LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 


OIKT   OF" 


Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALSWORTH.  > 

Received  October,  i8g4.  " 
Accessions  M).  J^y^-^X      Class  No, 


SERMONS 


ON 


DOCTRINE   AND   DUTY 


J   -% 


A.    CLEVELAND    <^OXE, 

BXCTOB   OF   GRACE    CHURCH,   BALTIUORB. 


^4^  Of  jraoi 


PHILADELPHIA: 

HERMAN  nOOKRR,  8.  W.  CORNER  CHESTNUT  k  EIGHTH  8TREET8L 
1865. 


C6  i 


r77¥-r 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congresg,  in  the  yeax  1854,  by  ■ 

A.   CLEVELAND    COXE,  ^ 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  in  and  for  the  ; 

Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania.  \ 


TO   THE 


PARISHI0NEB5  OF  ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH,  HARTFOKD. 


Dear  Brethren, 

You  will  recognize  these  sermons  as,  in  sub- 
stance, what  I  originally  preached  in  the  pulpit 
of  your  parish  church.  Their  publication  is  no 
project  of  my  own;  but  when  to  the  sugges- 
tions of  a  publisher,  from  whom  such  proposals 
are  entitled  to  great  respect,  was  added  the  re- 
membrance of  your  own  frequent  request  for 
such  a  memorial  of  my  ministry  among  you,  I 
was  induced  to  comply.  Accept  the  volume, 
then,  as  a  token  of  the  unaltered  affection  with 
which  I  shall  ever  remember  you,  and  of  the 
pleasure  with  which  I  often  review  the  twelve 
years  of  my  life,  passed  in  the  service  of  your 
souls. 

Your  faithful  friend, 

A.  C.  C. 

Baltimorb,  1865. 

(5) 


CONTENTS. 


SERMON  I. 
THB  COMING   OP   THE   JUDGE,     .... 

SERMON   IL 
PREPARATION   FOR   JUDGMENT, 

SERMON   III. 
DEATH   AND   HADES, 47 

SERMON   IV. 
THE   PUNISHMENT   OF   THE  WICKED,  ,  .         67 

SERMON  V. 
THE   REWARDS   OF  THE   RIGHTEOUS,  .  .         91 

SERMON   VI. 
SIGNS   OF  THE   TIMES, 

SERMON  VII. 
SPIRITUAL   REJOICING,       .  .  .  . 

SERMON   VIII. 
THE   ROYALTIES   OF   CHRIST,        .... 

1*  0) 


CONTENTS. 
SERMON  IX. 


SERMON   XI. 


SERMON  XVIII. 


178 


SERMON  X. 
PREPARATION   FOR   TIME,  ....      196 


21T 


SERMON  XII. 
THE   GREAT   MISSIONARY,  ....      240 

SERMON  XIII. 
THE   SON   OF   MARY  IN   HIS   FATHER'S   HOUSE,     .      264 

SERMON  XIV. 
THE   GOD   OF  THE  FAITHFUL,     ....      282 

SERMON  XV. 
WAYS   IN   THE   WATERS, 306 

SERMON  XVI. 
THE   GREAT   ENEMY, 324 

SERMON   XVII. 
THE   PRAYER   OF  THE   GADARENES,    .  .  .      845 


361 


SERMON    I. 


THE    COMING    OF    THE    JUDGE 


ADVENT   SUNDAY. 


Behold  hb  combth  with  clouds,  and  every  eye  shall  seb 
him,  and  they  also  which  pierced  him;  and  all  kindreds 

or  THE  EARTH  SHALL  WAIL  BECAUSE  OF  HIM.   EtEN  SO,  AMEN. 

Revelations  i.  7. 

To  the  world,  before  the  flood,  the  holy  Enoch 
preached  the  second  advent  of  Christ,  while  he 
warned  the  men  of  that  generation  of  the  im- 
pending judgment  which  was  to  be  its  token 
and  pledge.  After  long  ages  of  coincident  pro- 
phesyings,  the  apostle,  who  supplies  the  text, 
seals  up  the  volume  of  inspiration  with  the  fer- 
vent response,  "  Even  so,  come  Lord  Jesus." 

Thus  strikingly  harmonious,  as  well  as  con- 
stant, has  been  the  testimony  which  the  Church 
of  Christ  perpetuates,  concerning  the  end  of  all 
things  as  at  hand.  It  shows  us  that,  since  the 
fall,  God  has  been  making  a  very  short  work 
of  human  history,  abridging  it  into  a  few  thou- 

(9) 


10       THE  COMING  OF  THE  JUDGE. 

sands  of  years,  and  preparing  the  world  for  swift 
destruction.  Time  is,  accordingly,  only  that  in- 
significant portion  of  eternity  with  which  man 
is  concerned ;  and  God  has  been  pleased,  from 
the  beginning,  to  define  the  limit  which  he  has 
set  to  time,  as  not  very  far  removed  from  the 
starting-point  of  creation.  Noah  is.  represented 
as  the  eighth  preacher  of  righteousness.  Among 
the  patriarchs  that  preceded  him,  there  were, 
therefore,  seven  who  proclaimed  the  promises ; 
and  we  may  well  believe  that,  from  the  days 
of  our  first  father,  mankind  have  been  duly 
premonished  of  sin,  of  righteousness,  and  of 
judgment. 

This  testimony  has  been  progressively  con- 
firmed by  the  signs  of  successive  times,  by  the 
changes  of  all  things  human,  and  by  the  whole 
creation  groaning  and  travailing  in  pain  to- 
gether, until  now.  Above  all,  the  Judge  him- 
self has  given  us  his  personal  assurance  of  his 
coming,  and  has  commissioned  a  succession  of 
men  to  publish  his  warnings,  and  to  prepare 
the  world  for  the  event.  To-day,  therefore,  ac- 
cording to  the  ancient  ordinances  of  the  Apos- 
tolic Church,  we  renew  the  proclamation,  and 
call  the  world,  from  the  rising  up  of  the  sun  to 
the  going  down  of  the  same.  To-day  the  trum- 
pet is  blown  in  Zion,  and  her  walls   resound 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  JUDGE.        11 

with  the  cry  of  the  watchmen,  Behold  Iw  comeih. 
To-day,  too,  the  Church  begins  her  ritual  year, 
steaUng  a  march  upon  time  itself.  For  while 
the  world's  year  grows  old,  and  wanes  apace, 
and  vanishes  away,  she  starts  her  children,  be- 
times, upon  a  new  cycle  of  the  sun ;  rising,  as 
it  were,  before  the  morning- watch,  and  bidding 
us  to  gird  up  our  loins,  and  to  trim  our  lamps, 
and  to  speak  often  one  to  another,  saying, 
"  What  of  the  night  ?"  Thus  we  learn  to  live 
in  advance  of  the  world,  looking  for  and  hast- 
ening unto  the  coming  of  the  day  of  God.  Thus, 
too,  if  we  give  good  heed  to  the  appointed 
Scriptures,  we  shall  find  ourselves  led  to  think 
much  upon  death  and  judgment,  and  heaven 
and  hell,  those  *Mbur  last  things"  which  concern 
men,  and  which  are  the  great  realities  in  view 
of  which  we  ought  to  live.  They  are,  indeed, 
matters  of  common  interest ;  for  death  is  not, 
more  certainly,  the  end  of  all  men,  than  it  is 
true  that  we  must  all  stand  before  the  judg- 
mentrseat  of  Christ. 

The  text  may  be  properly  examined,  in  a  re- 
verse order,  collecting  its  successive  details,  so 
as  to  illustrate  more  fully  the  summary  excla- 
mation with  which  it  begins,  Be/wld,  he  cometh. 
But  first  let  us  note  the  principle  which  invests 
the  whole  passage.     It  is  that  the  judgment  is 


12  THE  COMING  OF   THE  JUDGE. 

the  work  of  the  Great  Mediator ;  the  fact  that 
*^  the  Father  judge th  no  man,  but  hath  com- 
mitted all  judgment  unto  the  Son."  The  Me- 
diatorial system  becomes  complete  in  this  set- 
tlement of  accounts  between  the  world  and  the 
world's  Kedeemer.  The  judgment  is  the  neces- 
sary complement  of  the  Incarnation.  He  who 
has  interposed  as  a  Daysman  between  us  and 
our  Creator,  and  who  now  perpetuates  his  work 
in  heaven  and  earth,  in  our  behalf,  must  bring 
this  work  to  a  conclusion,  corresponding  with 
his  relations  to  man  and  God.  He  has  bought 
us  with  his  own  blood  ;  and  as  all  power  is  com- 
mitted unto  him,  in  heaven  and  earth,  so  that 
no  man  cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by  him, 
so  it  is  Christ  alone  who  can  properly  decide 
who  are  his,  and  who  have  rejected  his  offers 
of  mercy.  It  is  Christ,  therefore,  with  whom 
we  have  to  do,  and  who  is  to  judge  the  secrets 
of  men's  hearts  according  to  the  Gospel.  Men 
are  to  stand  or  fall  in  judgment,  not  so  much 
with  reference  to  original  holiness,  as  by  the 
test  of  accepted  or  rejected  mercy.  By  the 
original  covenant  of  creation,  man  is  weighed 
in  the  balance  of  justice  :  "  In  the  day  that 
thou  eatest  thereof,  thou  shalt  surely  die."  By 
the  covenant  of  redemption  we  are  measured  by 
the  standard  of  grace  :     "  Whosoever  believeth 


THE   COMING   OF   THE   JUDGE.  13 

in  me  shall  never  die."  In  thinking  of  judg- 
ment, therefore,  and  in  endeavouring  to  prepare 
for  it,  we  make  a  fatal  mistake  if  we  forget 
that  it  is  "the  judgment-seat  of  Christ"  before 
which  we  must  all  appear,  and  that  all  the 
works  by  which  we  are  to  be  judged,  are  to 
derive  their  character  from  the  condition  of 
faith  in  him.  And  though  we  are  presented,  in 
the  Scriptures,  with  the  very  words  which  the 
Judge  shall  speak,  in  closing  up  the  terrible 
assize,  let  us  not  overlook  the  fact,  that  those 
words  are  but  the  grand  liturgic  close  of  a 
searching  trial,  beforehand,  in  which  every 
evangelized  soul  shall  have  been  examined,  ac- 
cording to  the  test,  "  Whosoever  shall  confess 
me  before  men,  him  shall  the  Son  of  Man  also 
confess  before  th6  angels  of  God."  This  pre- 
liminary trial  it  is  which  will  first  divide  the 
sheep  from  the  goats ;  and  when  this  division 
is  complete,  then,  according  to  the  rubric  of 
that  stupendous  ceremony,  our  great  High 
Priest  shall  say  to  those  upon  his  right  hand, 
"  Ye  did  it  unto  me,"  and  to  those  upon  his  left, 
"  To  me  ye  did  it  not.'*  Their  works  are  good 
or  bad  according  as  they  were  works  of  faith 
in  Christ,  and  of  love  to  him.  See,  then,  the 
danger  of  any  conception  of  judgment  in  which 
an  atoning  Saviour  is  not  enthroned  as  the 


14       THE  COMING  OF  THE  JUDGE. 

grand  centre  of  the  scene.  In  forgetting  this 
primary  truth ;  in  endeavouring  to  balance  sins 
which  nothing  but  his  blood  can  wash  away, 
by  acts  of  bare  morality ;  or  in  striving  to  se- 
cure a  credit,  in  the  books  of  God,  for  works 
which  are  not  wrought  in  genuine  charity,  and 
which  proceed  not  from  true  faith,  many  souls 
build  their  house  upon  the  sand,  and  great  shall 
be  the  fall  of  it.  Such  was  the  folly  of  the 
Pharisees,  whom  Christ  astonished  by  his  as- 
sertion that  "the  Father  hath  committed  all 
judgment  unto  the  Son."  When  they  pre- 
sumed to  sneer  at  such  a  claim  on  the  part  of 
one  whom  they  beheld  before  them,  in  fashion 
as  a  man,  and  in  the  form  of  a  servant,  he  yet 
more  confounded  their  pride  by  adding  that 
this  rock  of  offence  is  the  very  foundation  on 
which  his  judgment-throne  shall  be  reared. 
"  The  Father  hath  given  him  authority  to  ex- 
ecute judgment,  because  he  is  the  Son  of  Man. 
Marvel  not  at  this,  for  the  hour  is  coming  in 
the  which  all  that  are  in  their  graves  shall 
hear  His  voice,  and  shall  come  forth,  they  that 
have  done  good  unto  the  resurrection  of  life, 
and  they  that  have  done  evil  unto  the  resur- 
rection of  damnation." 

This  idea  of  the  second  advent,  as  the  day 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,  not  only  runs  through  all 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  JUDGE.       15 

the  apostolic  Scriptures,  but  it  seems  to  be 
here  the  especial  and  prominent  thought  of  St. 
John,  when  he  utters  the  response,  Even  so. 
Amen,  This  holy  aspiration  for  the  glorious 
appearing  of  his  Lord,  he  repeats  and  confirms 
to  the  end  of  his  Apocalypse  :  "  Even  so.  Lord 
Jesus,  come  quickly."  And  though,  in  the 
text,  it  closely  follows,  and  seems  to  seal  the 
words  which  describe  the  most  frightful  feature 
of  the  judgment,  the  wailing  of  nations,  and 
the  despair  o£  the  lost,  even  that  is  a  detail 
which  is  apparently  absorbed  in  the  considera- 
tion of  the  desirableness  of  Christ's  coming,  in 
view  of  his  blessed  purpose  to  put  an  end  to 
this  bad  world,  and  to  right  all  its  wrong.  All 
kindreds  of  the  earth  slwdl  wail  hecaiise  of  him  ; 
but  better  so  than  that  they  should  go  on  re- 
jecting and  denying  him.  Therefore,  says  the 
apostle.  Been  so,  Ameri.  As  Christ  is  the  uni- 
versal Redeemer,  he  must  be  the  universal 
Judge ;  and  they  who  would  not  rejoice  in  his 
mercy,  must  wsiil  because  of  his  justice.  But 
the  kindred  of  the  redeemed  are  not  reckoned 
her«  among  these  hiiulreda  of  the  earth,  for  in 
that  day  of  their  manifestation  they  shall  be 
no  longer  of  the  earth  ;  but  theirs  shall  be  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.  Nor  will  they  be  mere 
spectators  of  the  judgment  j  for  they  shall  ra- 
2 


16  THE   COMING   OF   THE   JUDGE. 

tify  it,  and  glorify  it,  as  just,  and  wise,  and 
holy.  And  though  some  of  their  own  kindred, 
according  to  the  flesh,  should  be  condemned  as 
"  of  the  earth,  earthy,"  we  may  be  sure  that  this 
foot  alone  will  forever  separate  such  miserable 
creatures  from  the  affections  and  the  relation- 
ship of  the  children  of  the  resurrection.  In 
that  day,  if  we  are  Christ's,  we  shall  be  made 
like  unto  him;  we  shall  have  spiritual  bodies; 
w^e  shall  be  as  different,  in  all  respects,  from 
the  lost,  as  the  angels  are  from  fiends.  Conse- 
quently, we  shall  love  none  but  those  who  are  our 
kindred  in  Christ.  What  a  motive  for  such  as 
would  perpetuate  their  friendships,  through  all 
eternity,  to  strive,  in  time,  to  rescue  those  whom 
they  love  from  unbelief  and  sin  !  But,  in  that 
day,  if  they  shall  rise  in  all  the  deformity  of 
Christ's  enemies;  if  they  shall  rise  to  shame 
and  everlasting  contempt;  if  they  shall  rise 
only  to  stand  disclosed  in  their  true  characters, 
and  stripped  of  all  those  disguises  which  they 
wore  on  earth,  deceiving  alike  themselves  and 
others ;  who  among  the  sons  of  God  shall  claim 
them  as  friends,  or  desire  them  as  companions  ? 
We  have  had  friends,  perhaps,  whom  we  now 
^  count  as  friends  no  longer.  They  have  aliena- 
ted us  forever,  by  some  sudden  and  shocking 
exhibition  of  interior  character,  from  which  we 


THE   COMING   OF   THE   JUDGE.  17 

have  turned  with  loathing,  and  we  name  their 
names  no  more.  Even  so,  in  their  new  bodies, 
and  their  glorified  estate,  the  children  of  God 
shall  know  no  man,  any  more,  according  to  the 
flesh.  When  the  Lord  coraeth,  with  ten  thou- 
sand of  his  saints,  they  too  shall  execute  judg- 
ment, in  rejecting  forever  all  ties  and  affections 
that  are  not  sanctified  in  him.  There  will  be 
no  misgivings,  no  questionings,  whether  the 
Judge  of  all  the  earth  does  right.  The  wicked 
themselves  shall  wail  because  of  their  conscious 
guilt.  No  lost  soul  but  shall  discover  himself 
to  be  the  author  of  his  own  undoing.  No  one 
shall  accuse  Christ  of  reaping  where  he  had 
not  sown,  that  shall  not  be  judged  out  of  his 
own  mouth.  Nor  need  we  perplex  ourselves 
as  to  the  unevangelized  heathen.  What  is  that 
to  thee  ?  Enough,  that  He  shall  judge  the 
world  in  righteousness,  as  he  shall  judge  his 
people  with  his  truth. 

The  universality  of  the  judgment  is  further 
asserted  in  the  language,  Every  eye  shall  see 
Him,  and  they  also  which  pierced  him.  We  be- 
lieve that  there  shall  be  a  resurrection  both 
of  the  just  and  the  unjust;  and  that  the  as- 
\  sembly  of  the  last  day  shall  not  lack  the  pre- 
sence of  any  human  creature  that  ever  breathed. 
"  It  is  appointed  unto  all  men  once  to  die,  and 


18  THE    eOMINO   OF   THE   JUDGE. 

after  that  the  judgment."  As  death  keeps  the 
one  appointment,  without  fail,  and  with  all,  so 
shall  judgment  keep  the  other.  Nay,  the  }a\f 
of  death  has  exceptions.  "  We  shall  not  alt 
sleep ;"  and  Enoch  and  Elijah  were  trans- 
lated ^'  that  they  should  not  see  death."  Bat 
the  law  of  judgment  excepts  none,  not  everf 
angels;  and  if  God  spared  not  them,  hoW 
shall  man  escape  ?  Let  the  apostle  explam  the 
text  by  his  own  further  revelation  : — "  I  saw 
the  dead,  small  and  great,  stand  before  God." 
All  soul»  shall  be  there,  and  in  their  flesh  they 
shall  see  God.  The  chambers  of  Hades,  and 
the  dust  of  the  fearth,  and  the  caves  of  the 
ocean,  shall  restore  their  dread  deposits,  to  be 
new  composed,  and  they  who  are  alive,  and 
remain,  shall  be  changed  in  the  twinkling  of 
an  eye.  Little  children  shall  be  there,  and 
pure  virgins,  and  meek  confessors.  Yes,  and 
the  old  soldier-saints  of  God,  the  noble  army 
of  martyrs,  the  glorious  company  of  the  apos- 
tles, and  the  goodly  fellowship  of  the  prophets. 
Then,  too,  shall  come  to  the  bar  of  Jesus,  the 
old  antagonists  and  persecutors  of  the  faithful ; 
the  stout  sinners  of  all  ages ;  the  world's  Nim- 
rods  and  Lucifers,  they  who  drove  asunder  the 
nations,  and  they  at  whose  coming  hell  was 
moved,  and  stirred  up  her  dead.    "  Multitudes, 


THE   COMING   OF   THE   JUDGE.  19 

multitudes  in  that  valley  of  decision,"  each  one 
standing  in  his  lot ;  each  with  his  cause  known ; 
the  trumpet  sounding ;  the  books  opening ;  the 
Judge  descending ;  and  small  and  great,  all  be- 
holding him,  in  their  common  nothingness,  to- 
gether !  The  Lord  alone  shall  be  exalted  in 
that  day.  Thenceforth  men  shall  be  great  or 
small,  according  as  they  are  Christ's,  or  accord- 
ing as  he  knows  them  not.  This  is  the  law  by 
which  there  shall  be  surprising  reversals  of  old 
positions  and  relations.  Conquerors  must  give 
place  to  cottagers ;  princes  to  peasants  ;  men 
of  science  to  men  of  the  soil.  We  shall  see 
Caesars,  with  their  old  historic  brows  unlaurelled, 
and  many  hidden  saints  disclosed  with  glitter- 
ing crowns,  and  everlasting  joy,  upon  their 
heads.  Great  poets  and  orators  shall  stand 
speechless,  while  unlearned  and  ignorant  men 
shall  break  forth  in  the  song  of  Moses  and  the 
Lamb.  Wise  philosophers  and  prudent  states- 
men shall  be  confounded  by  the  sight  of  a  dis- 
solving universe,  while  babes  and  sucklings 
shall  wake  up  in  perfected  strength,  and  calmly 
look  for  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth, 
wherein  dwelleth  righteousness.  Let  each  of  us 
take  home  the  more  practical  reflection,  I,  too, 
shall  he  (here.     Oh,  my  soul,  shall  it  be  on  the 

right  hand  or  on  the  left  ?  Shall  it  be  with  those' 
2* 


20        THE  COMING  OF  THE  JUDGE. 

wise  virgins,  who  shall  enter  in  and  be  with 
Christ  forever,  or  with  those  foolish  ones,  who 
shall  beat  their  breasts,  and  cry  lamentably  in 
darkness  and  despair — their  lamps  gone  ouij 
and  the  door  forever  shut  ? 

But  there  is  great  significance  in  the  remain- 
ing words  :  A7id  they  also  which  pierced  Him. 
St.  John  saw  the  side  of  Jesus  opened,  and  the 
water  and  the  blood  that  came  out,  and  has  re- 
corded the  prophecy  of  Zechariah — Tliey  shall 
look  on  him  whom  they  pierced.  Here  he  sol- 
emnly renews  that  prophecy,  and  if  we  reflect 
upon  the  historic  period  of  the  Apocalypse,  we 
shall  the  better  appreciate  this  reiterated  assu- 
rance of  final  retribution.  It  was  thus  repeated, 
as  it  were,  over  the  ashes  oi  Jerusalem,  and 
amid  the  wailing  of  the  Jews,  for  the  destruc- 
tion of  their  church  and  nation.  Christ  had 
already  come,  in  the  typical  judgment  which 
he  had  promised  to  the  men  of  that  generation, 
and,  with  awful  misgivings,  the  Jews  began  to 
recall  the  meek  and  Jowly  son  of  David  whom 
they  had  rejected,  and  to  wail  because  of  Him, 
and  thus  to  "  look  on  him  whom  they  had 
pierced."  At  such  a  time  Christ  came,  also,  lit- 
erally, to  give  the  last  assurance  of  his  final 
coming.  He  appeared  to  his  beloved  disciple 
in  Patmos,  confirming  his  promise ;  signifying 


THE   COMING   OF   TUE   JUDGE.  21 

that  the  Mosaic  dispensation  was  consummated 
in  the  judgment  of  Jerusalem,  and  testifying 
that  nothing  further  remained  but  for  the  Gos- 
pel to  run  its  course ;  and  that,  then,  in  due 
time,  should  come  the  great  judgment,  of  which 
the  prophetic  pledges,  or  types,  were  now  all 
fulfilled.  The  apostle  repeats  this  message  to 
the  world,  and  reminds  us  that  there  is  to 
be  yet  another  reckoning  with  them  that  pierced 
Him.  And  let  us  not  imagine  that  this  means 
those  poor  blind  Jews,  and  those  brutal  soldiers, 
who  were  the  miserable  instruments  of  the  Ee- 
deemer's  passion.  With  them  the  reckoning 
was  more  immediate.  The  Hebrews  who  cried 
"  His  blood  be  on  us,"  perished,  perhaps,  on  those 
crosses  with  which  Titus  garnished  the  ruins 
of  their  city ;  and  perhaps  those  Romans  who 
drove  the  nails  through  Jesus'  hands,  fell  be- 
neath the  arrows  which  were  shot  from  the  be- 
sieged walls.  But,  oh,  there  remains  a  more 
terrible  account  for  those  who  have  crucified 
Him  afresh.  Alas !  how  many  who  have  called 
themselves  Christians,  have  out-heroded  Herod 
in  setting  him  at  naught !  how  many,  who  have 
pretended  to  love  him,  have  betrayed  him,  like 
Judas,  with  a  kiss  !  how  many,  who  have  worn 
priestly  raiments,  have  called  his  doctrine  blas- 
phemy, like  Caiaphas  !  how  many,  who  have 


22        THE  COMING  OF  THE  JUDGE. 

washed  their  hands  like  Pilate,  have  delivered 
him  up  to  his  enemies  !  He  shall  "  sit  a  priest 
upon  his  throne,"  and  then  shall  these  also  looh 
on  him.  whom  they  pierced.  There  shall  be 
flatterers,  as  well  as  bitter  mockers,  in  that 
miserable  group;  Popes  with  Pagans;  Arius 
with  Julian ;  Socinus  with  Yoltaire.  Yes,  the 
Galilaean  will  be  conqueror  in  the  end !     One 

look  at  Him,  and  they  shall  shrink  into  ever- 
lasting contempt.  Oh,  how  often  they  denied 
and  rejected  him  before  men ;  how  long  they 
were  permitted  to  pronounce  him  altogether 
such  an  one  as  themselves ;  through  what  weary 
ages  they  prolonged  his  passion;  how  freely 
they  made  themselves  his  judges ;  stripped  him 
of  his  royalties,  as  God  and  king ;  bared  him  to 
stark  humanity  ;  scourged  him  with  lies ;  buf- 
fetted  him  with  feigned  words ;  and  hung  him 
up  on  the  tree  of  their  false  knowledge,  man- 
gled, and  bleeding,  and  crucified,  and  slain ! 
And  oh,  how  many  have  smitten  him  in  perse- 
cuting his  saints ;  how  many  have  pierced  him 
in  disregarding  the  cries  of  his  poor,  and  despi- 
sing his  little  ones  !  And  how  shall  these  en- 
dure the  sight  of  the  same  Jesus,  revealed  at 
last  in  all  the  glory  of  the  Father,  and  exerci- 
sing those  prerogatives  of  the  divine  majesty 
which  they  have  doubted,  or  insulted,  or  bias- 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  JUDGE,        23 

phemed  ?  What  though  they  reasoned,  and 
disputed,  and  grew  learned  and  philosophical, 
and  were  entirely  satisfied  with  their  own  devi- 
ces ?  Enough  :  iJiey  sliall  look  on  Him  !  Such 
shall  be  their  sufficient  refutation.  Thus  shall 
the  creed  of  Caiaphas  be  confounded ;  and  as 
they  behold  him  in  his  glory,  they  shall  remem- 
ber the  day  when  he  stood  in  his  humiliation' 
before  a  human  tribunal,  and  when  Jesus  said, 
'•  Ye  shall  see  the  Son  of  Man  sitting  on  the 
right  hand  of  power,  and  coming  in  the  clouds 
of  heaven." 

But  when  shall  these  things  be  ?  Belwld,  he 
Cometh !  The  apostle  seems  to  see  him  as  he 
speaks,  as  indeed  he  did,  in  his  vision^  con- 
flicting it  with  the  downfall  of  the  Jewish  state, 
and  with  those  terrible  visitations,  such  as  the 
destruction  of  Pompeii,  which,  about  the  same 
time,  gave  the  whole  earth  "signs  of  his  com- 
ing.'* In  the  like  words  the  ancient  Enoch 
had  cried — "  Behold,  the  Lord  cometh."  But 
what  mean  these  many  promises  and  long  de- 
lays ?  The  definite  object  of  these  successive 
alarms  will  appear  from  the  fact  that  each  was 
connected  with  a  con  temporary  judgment,  which 
marked  an  advance  in  time  towards  the  great 
consummation.  Every  stage  of  the  world's  pro- 
gress, with  reference  to  God's  kingdom,  has  been 


24  THE   COMING   OF   THE   JUDGE.' 

distinguished  by  a  similar  call,  and  a  similar 
judgment.  One  great  system  of  such  calls 
runs  through  all  history.  The  first  period  was 
that  of  Paradise ;  it  ended  in  the  call  of  God 
himself,  "Adam,  where  art  thou?" — and  in 
the  judgment — "  Dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust 
shalt  thou  return."  The  next  period  ended  in 
the  preaching  of  Enoch  and  the  judgment  of 
the  flood.  In  the  next,  Noah  was  the  great 
preacher,  and  the  ministry  of  Abraham  and 
Lot  continued  his  testimony,  until  the  fiery 
judgment  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah.  The  Abrar 
hamic  period  ended  in  the  mission  of  Moses, 
and  in  the  plagues  of  Egypt.  As  the  Mosaic 
period  drew  to  its  close,  John  Baptist  proclaimed 
the  first  advent,  which  was  consummated  by  the 
day  that  burned  as  an  oven,  when  Jerusalem 
was  brought  low,  while,  at  the  same  time,  the 
Roman  empire  was  terribly  visited  by  earth- 
quakes, and  convulsions,  and  famines,  and  pes- 
tilences. "  And  now,  beloved,"  says  St.  John, 
"  it  is  the  last  time."  The  Christian  dispensar 
tion  is  the  last  call  of  God  ;  vengeance  waits ; 
mercy  pleads;  but  judgment  is  coming.  The 
apostolic  ministry  is  the  Elias  of  these  latter 
days  ;  the  call  you  now  hear,  from  a  minister 
of  Christ,  is  as  really  your  call  to  judgment  as 
will  be  the  archangel's  trumpet,     it  is  the  last 


THE   COMING   OF   THE   JUDGE.  25 

call  of  grace ;  when  the  trumpet  sounds,  it  will 
be  too  late  to  prepare. 

And  oh,  how  it  thrills  me,  to  reflect  that  the 
commission  by  which  I  stand  here  to  speak,  is 
itself  your  warrant  for  the  truth  of  my  message. 
Christ  never  gave  a  general  commission  to 
preach  the  Gospel,  till  he  had  been  crucified 
and  had  risen  from  the  dead.  The  Christian 
ministry  is,  therefore,  a  monument  of  the  resur* 
rection,  and  a  voice  from  Him  who  "  liveth  and 
was  dead."  A  call  to  judgment  from  one  who 
thus  came  back  from  Hades  to  utter  it,  can 
leave  no  room  for  doubt  as  to  its  truth  and  its 
authority.  "God  will  judge  the  world  by  that 
Man  whom  he  hath  ordained,"  says  the  apostle, 
*^  whereof  he  hath  given  assurance  unto  all  men, 
in  that  he  hath  raised  him  from  the  dead."  And 
further,  it  is  an  ascended  as  well  as  a  risen  Re- 
deemer, who  speaks  by  us.  We  preach  the  mes- 
sage of  one  who  is  gone  into  heaven.  The  text 
is  the  testimony  of  an  apostle  who  saw  him 
after  his  ascension,  and  who  heard,  out  of  hea- 
ven, his  promise,  Surely,  I  come  quickly.  We 
know,  then,  that  his  coming  is  certain  ;  it  can- 
not be  long  delayed.  For  the  rest,  not  certainty, 
but  uncertainty,  is  our  best  preparation.  To 
seek  to  know  the  day  and  the  hour,  is  the  im- 
patient enthusiasm  of  unljelief ;  it  is  the  part 


2§  THE   COMING  OF   THE  JUDGE. 

of  faith  simply  to  watch,  because  at  such  a  time 
as  we  think  not,  the  Son  of  Man  cometh.  Spe- 
cific as  were  the  predictions  of  Daniel,  concerning 
the  first  advent,  we  see  that  even  the  holy  Sim- 
eon had  only  a  general  assurance  that  ""  he 
should  not  die  till  he  had  seen  the  Lord."  As  for 
the  others,  who  "  spake  often  one  to  another"  on 
the  delightful  theme,  they  only  waited  patiently, 
and  looked  for  the  consolation  of  Israel.  They 
lived  not  in  the  reckonings  of  their  arithmetic, 
J)ut  in  the  assurance  of  their  faith.  So  then, 
though  he  came  "  suddenly  to  his  temple,"  not 
only  Simeon  but  Anna  found  him  there  ;  and 
\ye,  if  we  still  seek  the  Lord,  as  they  did,  and 
wait  patiently  for  him,  shall  "  not  be  ashamed 
before  Him,  at  his  coming." 

Finally,  observe  the  sublimity  of  a  single  ex- 
presssion  in  the  text,  which  remains  to  be  noted : 
With  clouds!  How  this  imagery  impresses  the 
thought,  and  strikes  the  conscience.  How  so- 
lemn the  message  which  comes  to  us,  through 
the  awe  and  wonder  with  whicli  it  excites  our 
imagination.  What  an  ideal  vision  is  set  be- 
fore us  in  the  impassioned  exclamation.  Behold^ 
he  cometh  I  How  indistinct,  yet  graphic,  the 
splendors  of  light  and  shade  which  are  gath- 
ered about  his  appearing,  by  the  additional 
words,   With  doudal     From  the  more  minute 


THE   COMING   OF   THE   JUDGE.  27 

description  of  the  Transfiguration,  we  know 
something  further  of  the  glory  in  which  he 
shall  be  revealed.  He  shall  appear  as  the  An- 
cient of  Days.  His  face  shall  shine  as  the  sun, 
and  his  raiment  shall  be  white  and  glistening. 
**'  Thus  shall  he  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his  glo- 
ry." When  we  remember  the  extreme  humility 
of  his  first  advent;  that  unseemly  manger; 
that  mechanic  toil  at  Nazareth;  those  days 
when  he  had  not  where  to  lay  his  head ;  or, 
more  especially,  when  we  think  of  the  many 
dogs  that  came  about  him,  and  how  they  wag- 
ged their  heads  at  him,  as  he  hung  upon  the 
cross ;  who  but  exults  to  think  of  his  promised 
coming,  in  robes  of  glory,  attended  by  the  cha- 
riots of  God,  even  thousands  of  angels,  and  ri- 
ding upon  the  heavens,  by  his  name  Jehovah  ? 
There  shall  go  before  him  the  sound  of  that 
trumpet  which  was  heard  on  Sinai,  when  Mo- 
ses said,  "  I  do  exceedingly  fear  and  quake." 
There  will  be  thunderings  and  voices;  the  rend- 
ing of  sepulchres ;  the  sea  giving  up  her  dead ; 
the  heavens  passing  away  with  a  great  noise, 
and  the  elements  melting  with  fervent  heat. 
Oh,  then,  while  his  saints  shall  rejoice  to  see 
their  dear  Lord  at  last,  nothing  shall  so  dismay 
the  wicked  as  the  splendor  of  his  appearance, 
the  loveliness  and  the  glory  of  Him  whom  they 
3 


28       THE  COMING  OF  THE  JUDGE. 

despised,  the  radiance  of  his  countenance,  and 
the  majesty  of  his  person.  Tlwy  shall  look  on 
Him  whom  they  pierced;  and  the  rending  earth 
shall  be  more  tolerable  than  the  sight  of  their 
rejected  Redeemer.  "  Fall  on  us,  mountains  ; 
cover  us,  rocks ;"  (such  shall  be  their  wail  of  de- 
spair ;)  "  hide  us  from  the  face  of  him  that  sit- 
teth  on  the  throne,  and  from  the  wrath  of  the 
Lamb.'' 

Oh,  in  that  day,  good  Lord  deliver  us !  and 
now,  in  this  day  of  salvation,  give  us  grace, 
blessed  Saviour,  to  cast  away  the  works  of  dark- 
ness, and  to  put  on  us  the  armor  of  light.  When 
we  see  thee,  may  we  know  thee ;  and  oh,  that 
thou  mayest  know  us,  and  save  us  from  this 
world  which  knoweth  us  not,  that  we  may  not 
be  condemned  with  the  world  ! 


SERMON  II. 


PREPARATION   FOR   JUDGMENT. 


ADVENT   SUNDAY. 


But  who  may  abide  the  day  op  his  coming  ?  and  who  shall 
STAND  WHEN  HE  APPEARETH  ? — Malachi  iii.  2. 

The  prophecy  of  Malachi,  while  it  more  im- 
mediately respects  the  coming  of  our  Lord  in 
the  flesh,  is  so  constructed  as  to  serve  a  residu- 
ary purpose,  and  to  afford  us  much  instruction 
as  to  the  advent  which  is  yet  future.  Just  as 
this  season  of  the  Church  commingles  in  our 
minds  these  two  stupendous  themes,  so  that  we 
hardly  know  whether  the  joy  of  Christmas,  or 
the  wholesome  dread  of  judgment,  is  most  pro- 
minently set  before  us,  so  the  ancient  prophet 
announces  the  one  in  terms  singularly  appro- 
priate to  the  other,  and  reminds  us  that  the 
first  appearance  of  our  God  and  Saviour  was 
the  type,  as  it  is  the  assurance,  of  his  second 

(29) 


30       PREPARATION  FOR  JUDGMENT. 

coming.  He  who  had  said,  "  Lo !  T  come,"  did 
come  accordingly  ;  and  just  as  certainly  will  he 
fulfil,  in  its  season,  his  still  pending  promise, 
"  Behold  I  come  quickly,  and  my  reward  is  with 
me,  to  give  every  man  according  as  his  work 
shall  be." 

The  first  advent  was  in  many  things  a  type 
as  well  as  a  pledge  of  the  second ;  more  especi- 
ally because,  to  the  Jews,  it  was  a  day  of  judg- 
ment. It  was  the  end  of  the  Mosaic  dispensa- 
tion— as  the  general  judgment  will  be  of  time 
and  creation.  To  the  Jews,  therefore,  it  was 
the  day  that  "burned  as  an  oven."  The  Holy 
Child  was  no  sooner  born  than  he  was  "  set  for 
the  fall,  and  rising  again  of  many  in  Israel; 
that  the  thoughts  of  many  hearts  might  be  re- 
vealed/' His  coming  was  the  signal  for  great 
searchings  of  heart,  among  the  pharisees,  and 
scribes,  and  doctors.  He  was  as  a  refiner's  fire, 
and  as  fuller's  soap,  to  the  sons  of  Levi ;  he  was 
a  terror  to  Herod,  and  to  all  Jerusalem  with 
him;  and  even  to  his  faithful  servants,  who 
were  prepared  for  his  coming,  he  came,  in  an 
important  sense,  bringing  not  peace  but  a  sword. 
The  gospel  tried  men's  souls ;  and  nothing  less 
than  the  faith  and  patience  of  true  saints  was 
found  sufficient  to  abide  the  day  of  his  coming, 
or  to  stand  that  appearing. 


PREPARATION  FOR  JUDGMENT.       31 

The  grand  challenge  of  the  first  advent  was 
doubtless  that  of  the  day  when  the  Saviour 
came  to  his  temple,  riding  upon  an  ass,  in  great 
humility,  but  presenting  himself  according  to 
prophecy,  as  the  Son  of  David,  and  their  pro- 
mised Messiah.  It  was  also  a  significant  type 
of  his  coming,  in  his  glorious  majesty,  at  the 
last,  calling  the  whole  world  to  behold  him  as 
"  a  priest  upon  his  throne,"  and  to  welcome  him 
with  the  shout,  *'  Blessed  is  he  that  cometh  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord."  Accordingly,  it  was 
not  long  before  all  other  signs  of  the  typical 
judgment  were  gathered  about  Jerusalem.  Its 
hills  were  covered  with  armies,  and  the  saints 
of  God  alone  knew  the  signs,  and  were  able  to 
escape.  The  day  of  vengeance  soon  settled  up- 
on the  city ;  it  was  a  day  of  burning  and  of 
ashes,  in  which  the  wicked  were  indeed  "  as  stub- 
ble ;"  while  in  the  horrors  of  rapine,  butchery, 
and  conflagration,  the  church  and  nation  of  the 
Hebrews  passed  away,  because  the  blood  of  the 
Crucified  was  heavy  upon  their  heads,  and  the 
day  of  their  recompense  had  come. 

We  may  be  sure,  then,  that  what  was  thus  ful- 
filled in  figure,  according  to  the  promise,  will 
Boon  be  fulfilled  in  the  more  awful  reality  of  the 
universal  judgment,  and  the  dissolution  of  things 
created.  The  promise  yet  remains  to  be  accom- 
3* 


:V2  PREPARATION  FOR  JUDGMENT. 

plisbed,  in  it8  broader  meaning,  "I  will  come  near 
to  you  to  judgment,  and  I  will  be  a  swift  witness 
against  the  sorcerers,  and  against  the  adulterers, 
and  against  false-swearers,  and  against  those 
that  oppress  the  hireling  in  his  wages,  the  widow 
and  the  fatherless,  and  that  turn  aside  the  stran- 
ger from  his  right,  and  fear  not  me,  saith  the 
Lord  of  Hosts."  Such  being  the  warning,  the 
question  still  remains  to  enforce  it.  Who  may 
abide  the  day  of  his  coming? 

Let  this  question  ring  in  jour  ears  to-day, 
and  resound  in  your  consciences  so  long  as  there 
remains  anything  to  be  done,  on  your  part,  to 
make  its  answer  to  you,  individually,  less  por- 
tentous of  evil.  It  is  a  question  which  we  must 
meet  now,  in  a  practical  way,  or  it  will  soon  be 
too  late  to  repeat  it,  except  as  the  wail  of  a  lost 
soul.  It  is  a  question  which  every  one  must 
confront,  sooner  or  later;  and  more  and  more 
terrible  will  it  be,  the  longer  it  is  delayed.  Let 
us  look  at  it  now,  therefore,  in  all  the  earnest- 
ness of  the  wise  inquiry,  ''  What  must  I  do  to 
be  saved." 

If  we  turn  to  the  examples  of  those  who  were 
able  to  stand  the  test  of  the  first  appearing,  we 
shall  be  at  no  loss  to  decide  as  to  the  characters 
which  are  prepared  for  the  day  of  judgment. 
Such  as  were  Zacharias  and  Simeon,  and  the 


PREPARATION   FOR  JUDGMENT.  33 

blessed  Mother  of  our  Lord,  and  Elizabeth  and 
Anna ;  such  as  looked  for  the  consolation  of 
Israel ;  such  as  feared  the  Lord,  and  spake  oflen 
one  to  another,  and  thought  upon  his  iiame ; 
these  loving  and  unworldly  souls  were  they  in 
whom  the  Lord  fulfilled  his  promise-  ~"  they 
shall  be  mine  in  that  day,  w^hen  I  make  up  my 
jewels."  So,  too,  as  that  day  of  sifting  and  re- 
fining went  on,  and  the  thoughts  of  many  hearts 
were  revealed,  we  find  some  going  away  sor- 
rowful, because  of  the  terms  of  salvation ;  hold- 
ing fast  their  great  possessions,  and  rejecting 
the  pearl  of  great  price  ;  while  repentant  pul> 
licans  and  weeping  harlots,  and  here  and  there 
a  rich  man,  leaving  all  and  following  Jesus,  were 
accepted  of  him.  Everywhere  he  was  to  that 
generation  "  like  a  refiner's  fire."  The  sordid, 
the  sensual,  the  earthly,  were  left  as  dross  to  a 
fiercer  burning ;  he  tried  them  as  gold  and  sil- 
ver are  tried,  and  only  the  pure  ore  of  the  faith- 
ful and  true  heart  escaped  the  assay,  as  a  vessel 
of  honor  fit  for  the  Master's  use. 

Docs  any  one  imagine  that  it  shall  be  more 
tolerable  in  the  day  that  shall  try  all  things  ? 
Is  it  possible  that  anyone  who  reads  and  hears 
the  Gospel,  and  fails  to  apply  its  tests,  rigidly 
and  honestly,  to  conscience,  or  who,  doing  so,  is 
conscious  of  an  entire  distaste  for  the  service 


34       PREPARATION  FOR  JUDGMENT. 

of  Christ,  expects  to  escape  in  that  day?  Come, 
let  us  be  honest  with  ourselves,  and  no  longer 
endeavor  to  put  by  our  chief  concern  in  this 
life,  which  is  the  question  of  the  text !  Let  us 
be  sure  that,  forget  it  as  we  may,  or  close  our 
eyes  as  we  may  to  the  awful  truth,  men  are 
every  day  dying  in  their  sins,  all  about  us,  and 
going  to  judgment,  "  condemned  already."  Let 
us  thank  God  that  it  is  not  so  with  us ;  let  us 
magnify  his  mercy,  that  has  spared  us  yet  a  lit- 
tle while ;  let  us  resolve,  at  any  cost,  to  lay 
hold  on  eternal  life,  while  our  mortal  life  yet  re- 
mains ;  and  in  an  awful  sense  of  our  danger  from 
past  neglect,  and  our  possible  hardness  of  heart, 
let  us  press  to  our  souls  the  sharp  point  of  the 
inquiry —  Who  may  abide  the  day  of  his  coming  ? 
We  may  be  quite  sure,  from  our  review  of  the 
character  of  those  who  were  able  to  abide  the 
day  of  the  first  advent,  that  just  such  charac- 
ters will  be  the  only  ones  who  shall  be  safe  in 
the  last  day.  The  test,  therefore,  is  a  very 
plain  one,  for  the  great  characteristic  of  the 
early  disciples  was  their  practical  contempt  for 
this  world,  and  their  constant  devotion  to  the 
pursuit  of  an  eternal  inheritance.  They,  prac- 
tically, believed  that  this  is  no  world  to  live  in. 
They  brought  their  minds  to  the  solemn  truth 
of  the  saying,  "  Vanity  of  vanities,  all  is  vani- 


PREPARATION"   FOR  JUDGMENT.  35 

iy"  Thej  came  to  the  conclusion,  therefore, 
that  this  world  is  good  for  nothing,  save  as  it 
can  be  turned  to  account  for  a  better ;  and,  on 
this  conviction,  all  their  conduct  was  conformed 
to  the  pattern  of  things  *'  unseen  and  eternal." 
They  dreaded  nothing  so  much  as  the  possi- 
bility of  having  their  portion  here ;  of  receiv- 
ing their  good  things  in  time,  and  so  becom- 
ing bankrupts  in  eternity.  Hence,  in  view 
of  their  great  reward,  they  counted  nothing  to 
which  they  were  called  a  hard  task,  or  a  thing 
unreasonable.  The  half  of  their  wealth  they 
could  give  to  the  poor ;  wife  and  children,  and 
houses  and  lands,  they  could  leave  at  the  Mas- 
ter s  call;  nay,  peril  of  chains,  and  prison,  and 
sword,  they  could  face  boldly ;  they  could  give 
their  body  to  be  burned,  if  so  be  that,  at  the 
last,  they  might  receive  it  again,  as  a  prey  from 
the  burning  world;  if  only  they  might  be  found 
in  CuRiST,  perfect  and  entire,  wanting  nothing, 
with  great  riches  laid  up  in  heaven,  and  able 
to  abide  his  coming,  as  men  that  wait  for  their 
Lord. 

Now,  nothing  is  more  evident  than  the  folly 
of  refusing  to  imitate  this  wise  example,  with 
the  same  great  object  in  view.  For  suppose  a 
man  determined  to  do  otherwise,  and  resolved, 
at  all  eventS;  to  take  his  ease,  and  enjoy  his 


36  PREPARATION   FOR  JUDGMENT. 

possessions  and  pleasures  in  this  life.  Can  he 
do  it  ?  We  are  placed  in  this  world  only  to  de- 
cide the  question  as  to  our  eternal  portion;  and 
no  sooner  do  we  settle  it  in  favor  of  things  pre- 
sent, than  we  are  especially  liable  to  an  in- 
stant summons  from  death.  "  Thou  fool,  this 
night  thy  soul  shall  be  required  of  thee ;  then 
whose  shall  those  things  be  which  thou  hast 
provided?"  There  is  no  escaping  the  great 
question.  To  neglect  it,  is  to  determine.  The 
only  way  to  meet  it  effectually  and  wisely,  is  to 
resolve  on  the  kind  of  life  which  God  requires 
of  those  who  would  be  saved — a  life,  that  is, 
known  and  read  of  all  men,  as  a  walk  with 
God;  a  denial  of  self;  a  seeking  of  a  better  city, 
even  an  heavenly ;  a  laying  up  of  treasures  in 
heaven ;  a  laying  hold  upon  eternal  life.  And 
here  let  us  guard  against  the  fatal  mistake  of 
answering  this  question,  which  we  must  meet 
for  ourselves,  by  another  man's  conscience.  We 
see  before  us  the  gospel-pattern ;  we  see  around 
us  men,  professing  to  be  Christians,  living  very 
differently.  Let  us  guard,  I  say,  against  taking, 
as  the  standard,  not  the  written  law,  by  which 
we  shall  be  judged,  but  the  corrupt  practice  by 
which  our  neighbour  is  in  danger  of  becoming  g, 
castaway.  Who  may  abide  the  day  of  his  coming  f 
There  is  the  question.  "  Not  every  one  that  saith 


PREPARATION  FOR  JUDGMENT.       37 

unto  me,  Lord,  Lord."  There  is,  in  part,  the  an- 
swer. You  will  say,  '  Must  I,  then,  cease  to  add 
house  to  house,  and  field  to  field ;  must  I  let  go  my 
worldly  wealth,  my  inheritance,  or  the  fortune 
which  is  my  reward  for  hard  years  of  labor ; 
my  possessions,  in  which  I  have  looked  to  take 
comfort  for  many  years  ?  Must  I  give  all  these 
to  the  poor  ?'  The  answer  is  very  simple.  Can 
you  retain  these  things  one  minute  beyond  the 
time  that  God  pleases  to  allot?  Do  you  not  see 
that  they  are  not  yours,  but  his  ?  Do  you  not 
see  that  you  are  merely  a  tenant  at  will ;  a  stew- 
ard, who  may  at  any  moment  be  called  to  give 
account?  Clearly,  then,  if  your  large  house, 
your  fine  furniture,  your  many  servants,  and  all 
that  you  so  much  value,  are  absorbing  your  five 
talents,  so  that  there  is  no  increase  for  the  Mas- 
ter, you  must  give  up  these  things,  or  else  give 
up  salvation.  "  You  cannot  serve  God  and  Mam- 
mon.'^ You  have  no  right  to  waste  so  much  on 
yourself;  it  is  your  Lord's  money.  If  he  lends 
you  large  means — if  you  are  called,  by  his  pro- 
vidence, to  a  stewardship  of  riches,  he  allows 
you,  meanwhile,  to  live  on  his  bounty,  and  to 
live  comfortably,  prosperously,  and  even  with 
taste  and  elegance,  according  to  your  station. 
But,  oh,  the  ingratitude,  if  you  fail  to  perceive, 
in  such  goodness,  the  greater  obligation  to  use 


38       PREPARATION  FOR  JUDGMENT. 

the  residue  for  Christ  ;  especially  as  in  so  doing 
he  credits  you  with  all,  and  promises  to  reward 
you  an  hundred-fold  in  a  world  that  shall  have 
no  end ! 

The  law,  I  say,  is  a  simple  one.  The  time, 
the  talents,  the  wealth,  everything  that  belongs 
to  one  who  is  in  earnest  to  be  saved,  belongs  to 
Christ.  So,  in  fact,  do  the  talents  of  any  man. 
He  may  use  the  world,  only  as  not  abusing  it ; 
he  may  give  to  self  only  what  does  not  inter- 
fere with  his  doing  more  abundantly  for  his 
Master.  He  may  live  in  his  ceiled  house,  pro- 
vided he  does  not  let  the  house  of  the  Lord  lie 
waste.  He  may  clothe  himself  richly,  provided 
he  does  not  leave  Christ  to  stand  naked  at  his 
door,  in  the  person  of  the  poor.  He  may  take, 
with  thanksgiving,  the  bread  that  God  gives 
him,  day  by  day,  in  answer  to  his  prayers ;  but 
only  so  as  he  deals  to  the  hungry  what  God 
himself  asks  back  again,  whenever  the  needy 
cry,  or  whenever  the  desolate  heathen  call  for 
the  bread  of  life. 

And  now  does  any  one  answer  me,  'Who  then 
can  be  saved?'  I  know  that  I  have  presented 
a  standard  of  Christian  life  too  little  realized 
in  our  day;  but,  on  reflection,  weighing  my 
words,  and  searching  the  Scriptures,  I  cannot 
see  that  I  am  authorized  to  preach  salvation  on 


PREPARATION  FOR  JUDGMENT.  39 

any  other  terms.  Nay,  the  more  I  study  my 
Bible,  the  more  and  more  do  I  feel  horribly 
afraid,  that  there  are  few  indeed  who  will  be 
saved.  Especially,  when  I  read  what  Christ  says 
concerning  sins  of  omission — "  Inasmuch  as  ye 
did  it  not,'' — and  compare  it  with  the  surprise 
of  the  condemned  sinners,  who  say,  "  When  saw 
we  thee  an  hungered,  and  did  not  minister  unto 
thee" — I  feel  it  my  duty  to  tell  you,  what  I  tell 
myself,  that  thousands  are  going  to  be  lost  for- 
ever, for  the  mere  neglect  of  opportunities  to 
do  good,  of  which  they  now  make  no  account, 
because  they  are  absorbed  in  other  things.  This 
is  our  danger,  brethren,  and  shall  I  fail  to  warn 
you  that  such  is  the  case  ?  It  is  my  business, 
as  a  steward,  to  tell  you  plain  truth ;  it  is  my 
burthen  to  deliver  the  word  of  the  Lord  as  it 
is  written.  And  shall  I  hazard  the  curse  of 
your  everlasting  cry  against  me,  for  preaching 
unto  you  "  smooth  things  ?"  Shall  I  sin  against 
you,  by  concealing  your  real  dangers,  now  that 
you  have  an  opportunity  of  repenting,  and  of 
amending  the  life  which  is  sure  to  be  your 
eternal  ruin  unless  it  is  repented  of,  and  that 
speedily  ?  God  forbid !  It  is  my  duty,  in  season 
and  out  of  season,  to  bid  you  flee  from  the  wrath 
to  come ;  and  if  so,  more  especially  in  this  sea- 
sou,  which  the  Bride,  responding  to  the  Spirit, 
4 


40       PREPARATION  FOR  JUDGMENT 

devotes  to  her  Lord,  that  so  she  may  prepare 
his  children  to  abide  the  day  of  his  coming, 
and  to  stand  when  he  appeareth. 

In  short,  then,  the  inquiry  of  the  text  re- 
ceives its  sufficient  answer  in  these  memorable 
words  of  St.  Paul,  "  Be  not  deceived ;  God  is 
not  mocked :  for  whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that 
shall  he  also  reap."  As  if  this  plain  language  were 
not  sufficiently  explicit  to  make  self-deception 
very  hard,  and  to  show  that  to  mock  God,  with 
pretended  or  partial  service,  is  impossible,  the 
apostle  continues,  "  He  that  soweth  to  his  flesh, 
shall  of  the  flesh  reap  corruption  ;  but  he  that 
soweth  to  the  Spirit,  shall  of  the  Spirit  reap 
life  everlasting."  Now,  can  any  man  be  in 
doubt  whether  he  lives  a  fleshly  or  a  spiritual 
life  ?  To  what  objects  are  his  days  and  nights, 
his  thoughts  and  actions,  chiefly  directed  ?  Is 
it  "  what  shall  we  eat,  and  what  shall  we  drink, 
and  wherewithal  shall  we  be  clothed ;"  or  is  it, 
on  the  contrary,  'What  can  I  do  for  Christ  ;  how 
can  I  become  an  instrument  of  his  mercy;  how 
can  I  do  something  for  his  kingdom  ?'  In  short, 
are  we  providing  for  our  flesh,  how  we  can  make 
it  comfortable  here,  or  is  it  our  chief  concern  to 
provide  for  our  soul,  how  we  can  make  it  happy 
everlastingly  ?  We  know,  in  our  hearts,  the 
truth  as  to  this  question.     Well,  accordiiiurly, 


PREPARATION  FOR  JUDGMENT.       41 

you  have  the  answer :  a  harvest  of  corruption, 
or  a  harvest  of  immortality !  Which  shall  be 
yours  ?  Will  you,  in  the  day  of  judgment,  receive 
your  flesh,  as  you  bury  it,  a  corrupt  and  consum- 
ing mass  of  earth,  the  prey  of  the  worm  that 
never  dies,  and  of  the  fire  that  is  not  quenched  ? 
Or  will  you  receive  a  spiritual  body,  made  like 
unto  the  body  of  Christ's  glory,  and  fitted  to 
enter  with  him  into  the  eternal  mansions  which 
he  has  gone  to  prepare  ?  Ah !  my  brethren, 
this  is  the  question  which  you  are  answer- 
ing, whether  you  will,  or  not,  every  day  that 
you  live  in  this  world.  Soon  you  will  be  car- 
ried to  your  graves;  the  question  will  have 
been  settled  unalterably  for  you.  The  next 
thing  will  be  the  judgment.  As  you  sow,  so 
ehall  you  reap. 

Say  not,  then,  that  the  day  of  the  Lord  is  a  ter- 
rible day,  except  as  you  reflect  upon  the  great 
truth,  that  it  shall  be  to  you  precisely  what  you 
choose  to  make  it.  After  all,  it  is  not  judgment 
that  is  fearful,  nor  death  ;  but  rather  it  is  a 
fearful  thing  to  live,  where,  every  day,  if  we 
are  not  sowing  to  the  Spirit,  we  are  '^  treasuring 
to  ourselves  wrath  against  the  day  of  wrath." 
To  live  on  in  sin,  what  is  it  but  to  write,  over  and 
over  again,  our  eternal  sentence,  in  those  uner- 
ring books  of  God  ?     One  day  of  sin  is  a  fright- 


42  PREPARATION    FOR  JUDGMENT. 

ful  thing.  Think,  then,  of  day  after  day  of 
"  sowing  to  the  flesh  ;''  days  of  the  seared  con- 
science, and  the  hardening  heart ;  days  that 
make  blacker  and  blacker  the  page  in  which  our 
names  are  written ;  days  which  make  it  sure 
that  the  Day  of  days  shall  reveal  for  us  no  por- 
tion in  the  heavens ;  that  it  shall  exhibit  our 
treasure,  where  we  sowed  it,  in  the  dust  and 
the  ashes,  and  remove  us  from  the  flaming 
earth,  only  to  consign  us  to  a  burning  hell. 

Plain  as  are  the  rules  by  which  God  has 
taught  us  to  prepare  for  that  day ;  and  not- 
withstanding he  has  given  us  its  ritual  before- 
hand, so  that  we  know  the  very  questions  and 
responses  of  the  Great  Advent,  as  we  know  the 
Epistles  and  Gospels  for  the  preparatory  solem- 
nities of  the  Church,  it  is  not  to  be  doubted 
that  it  will  be  a  day  of  great  disappointments. 
"Many  will  say  unto  me,  in  that  day.  Lord, 
Lord;  and  then  will  I  profess  unto  them,  I  never 
knew  you ;  depart  from  me,  ye  that  work  ini- 
quity." Oh,  let  us  beware  of  self-deception; 
but  above  all  things,  beware  of  hypocrisy !  How 
much  will  then  be  revealed,  according  to  the 
promise,  that  Christ  shall  "  bring  to  light  the 
hidden  things  of  darkness !"  What  awful  ex- 
hibitions of  character  will  then  justify  the  re- 
tributions of  God  !     Even  here  we  are  startled, 


PREPARATION  FOR  JUDGMENT.       43 

when,  from  time  to  time,  the  mask  falls  from 
the  face  of  the  pharisee ;  but  that  day  shall  un- 
mask a  multitude,  who  went  through  life  with 
white  raiment,  in  the  sight  of  men  ;  who  were 
never  suspected  here ;  who  had  chief  seats  in 
the  synagogues,  and  greetings  in  the  markets. 
Then,  for  the  first  time,  shall  cunning  thieves, 
and  secret  slanderers,  and  covert  adulterers,  be 
exposed,  and  stripped  of  their  disguises,  before 
angels  and  men,  and  made  bare  to  shame  and 
everlasting  contempt.  There  will  be  murder- 
ers there,  whose  hands  were  not  visibly  red  with 
blood,  in  time  ;  sinners  against  their  brother,  by 
cherished  malice  and  persevering  hate;  sin- 
ners against  unborn  life,  when  God  only  "  saw 
its  substance,  yet  being  imperfect;"  sinners 
against  wife  or  husband,  who  were  killed  by 
cruelty  and  wrong;  sinners  against  the  poor 
and  needy,  murdered  by  extortion  and  oppres- 
sion ;  all  sinners  against  Him  who  will  show  his 
pierced  side  and  say,  "  Ye  did  it  unto  me." 

Beware,  then,  I  repeat  it,  of  cherishing  a 
false  hope.  Oh,  the  pangs  of  finding  out,  too 
late,  that  life  has  been  wasted  in  crying  peace 
to  one's  soul,  when  all  the  time  there  was  no 
peace !  Let  us  ask  ourselves  boldly.  Am  I  a 
true  Christian,  an  Israelite  indeed?  I  know 
that  God's  mercy  is  wonderful,  and  that  he  will 
4* 


44       PRErARATION  FOR  JUDGMENT. 

save  unto  the  uttermost ;  bat  oli,  my  soul,  is 
there  any  encouragement  to  believe  he  will 
save  such  as  thou  art  ?  Are  you  a  fit  person, 
in  any  sense,  to  be  made  a  comjoanion  of  God's 
saints  in  glory  ?  How  shall  you  sing  hallelujah 
in  heaven,  who  never  enjoy  such  music  here  on 
earth  ?  How  shall  y:u  be  throned  with  Christ, 
who  so  seldom  bow  your  knees  in  prayer  at  his 
footstool  ?  How  shall  you  find  a  place  among 
men  of  prayer — men  of  bounty  and  mercy? 
How  can  Christ  say  to  you,  on  any  principle, 
whether  of  mercy  or  of  justice,  "  Well  done  good 
and  faithful  servant?"  On  what  grounds  do 
you  expect  a  crown  for  your  head,  and  a  palm 
for  your  hands  ?  You  a  soldier  !  Who  ever  saw 
you  fighting  manfully  under  Christ's  banner! 
You  a  conqueror !  What  single  lust  of  the 
flesh  have  you  overcome,  by  prayer  and  fast- 
ing? What  vanity  of  the  world  have  you 
trampled  under  foot?  What  assault  of  tht 
devil  have  you  mightily  resisted,  in  the  strength 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  ?  Yes,  brethren,  let  us  ask 
our  consciences  these  close  questions.  Put 
dear  self,  that  old  ofiender,  to  the  bar,  and 
judge  your  own  selves,  that  ye  be  not  judged 
of  the  Lord.  Better  now,  than  when  it  is  too 
late,  to  wash  and  be  clean ;  better  a  moment's 


PREPARATION   FOR  JUDGMENT.  45 

horror,  and  a  life's  repentance,  than  an  eternity 
of  agonizing  disappointment,  remorse  and  woe  ! 
But  icho  may  abide  tlte  day  of  7/  k  coming  ?  Re- 
joice, oh  patient  and  faithful  child  of  God,  for 
though  that  day  shall  burn  as  an  oven,  it  will  be  a 
joyful  day  for  you.  The  world  will,  indeed,  be 
burned  up;  but  your  treasures  are  not  here;  they 
are  safe  in  heaven,  and  there  shall  you  find  them, 
manifold.  Rejoice,  for  at  last  you  will  receive  the 
end  of  your  faith,  even  the  salvation  of  your 
soul.  Rejoice,  for  even  in  that  day  of  terrors 
it  will  still  be  true,  that  "  as  thy  days  so  shall 
thy  strength  be."  First  of  all,  you  shall  receive 
your  body  from  the  dust;  the  vessel  in  which 
you  served  God,  and  did  the  works  by  which 
you  are  justified  freely ;  a  body  ^*  now  no  more 
to  return  to  corruption."  And  lo  !  in  this  you 
shall  stand  in  your  lot ;  you  shall  see  God  ;  you 
shall  no  more  have  reason  to  fear.  You  shall 
be  assured  that  your  works  of  faith  and  love 
were  all  done  to  your  unseen  but  all-seeing 
Lord ;  and,  as  such,  were  by  him  accepted  and 
credited  with  amazing  increase  of  reward.  Then 
shall  begin  your  triumph  with  Christ  ;  the  ful- 
fiUing  of  all  your  hopes,  the  repairing  of  all 
your  sorrows.  You  shall  rejoice  in  the  triumph 
of  right ;  you  shall  see  Lazarus  entering  in  to 
the  marriage  supper  of  the  Lamb,  while  Dives 


46       PREPARATION  FOR  JUDGMENT. 

is  sent  empty  away ;  you  shall  see  the  confes- 
sors and  martyrs  of  Jesus  avenged  at  last ;  all 
lies  confuted  and  confounded,  and  Truth  exalted 
and  enthroned,  and  "  upon  her  head  a  crown 
of  twelve  stars."  Then,  while  they  who  hated 
the  Lord  of  glory,  and  railed  against  his  gospel, 
receive  the  just  reward  of  their  malice,  and  of 
the  evil  which  they  did  by  their  pestilent  ex- 
amples— "  Lo  !  thus  shall  the  righteous  man 
stand  in  great  boldness  before  the  face  of  such 
as  afflicted  him,  and  made  no  account  of  his 
labors.  When  they  see  it,  they  shall  be  trou- 
bled with  terrible  fear,  and  shall  be  amazed  at 
the  strangeness  of  his  salvation,  so  far  beyond 
all  that  they  looked  for,  saying.  How  is  he 
numbered  among  the  children  of  God,  and  his 
lot  is  among  the  saints."  Yes,  believer,  you 
shall  abide  his  coming.  Your  Saviour  shall  bid 
you  welcome  to  his  right  hand  ;  you  shall  see 
him  as  he  is ;  the  same,  "  whom  having  not  seen 
we  love ;''  the  same,  "  in  whom,  though  now  we 
see  him  not,  yet  believing  we  rejoice  with  joy 
unspeakable  and  full  of  glory.'* 


SERMON    III 


DEATH    AND    HADES. 


SECOND   SUNDAY  IN  ADVENT. 
Then  shall  the  dust  eeturn  to  the  earth  as  it  was,  and 

THE  SPIRIT    SHALL  RETURN  UNTO  GoD  WHO   GAVE  IT. — Ecclesi- 

astes,  xii.  7. 

With  the  thought  of  judgment  we  naturally 
associate  thoughts  of  death.  And  this  is  both 
reasonable  and  profitable,  because,  though  judg- 
ment may  be  comparatively  long  delayed,  our 
death,  which  is  always  near  at  hand,  makes 
judgment  practically  near  to  us.  All  that  we 
can  do  to  prepare  for  judgment,  must  be  done 
in  the  body ;  "  for  there  is  no  work,  nor  device, 
nor  knowledge,  nor  wisdom,  in  the  grave, whither 
thou  goest."  So,  then,  in  this  solemn  season, 
while  everything  about  us  reminds  us  of  decay ; 
while  nature  is  stripped  of  her  gay  colors,  and 
the  days  are  short  and  wintry ;  and  while  the 
world's  year  dwindles  towards  its  last  minute. 

(47) 


48  DEATH  AND  HADES. 

making  men  think  of  the  swift  flight  of  time, 
whether  they  will  or  not;  let  us,  too,  think  of 
death,  though  not  in  the  world's  way.  For  as, 
according  to  the  Church's  reckoning,  it  is  the 
beginning  and  not  the  end  of  the  year,  so  our 
thoughts  of  death  and  judgment  are  allied  with 
those  of  hope,  instead  of  despair.  They  are 
colored  rather  by  the  future  than  by  the  past. 
They  stretch  into  a  prospect  from  which  the 
clouds  are  gradually  breaking  away,  and  which 
the  great  Sun  of  Righteousness  illuminates  and 
warms.  "  The  day-spring  from  on  high  hath 
visited  us ;"  and  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death  is  no  longer  a  terror  to  the  believer,  who 
should  be  always  able  to  say,  with  Simeon, 
"  Now,  Lord,  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in 
peace,  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  salvation." 
The  text  seems  to  refer  us  to  the  primal  sen- 
tence of  our  race,  as  passed  upo'n  our  guilty 
forefather :  "  Dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  shalt 
thou  return."  It  informs  us,  however,  that  when 
this  sentence  takes  effect  upon  the  body,  our  im- 
mortal part  does  not  partake  its  grave,  but  "  re- 
turns unto  God  who  gave  it."  Thus,  from  the 
Christian's  idea  of  death,  the  thought  of  uncon- 
scious slumber,  and  of  absolute  extinction,  are 
alike  excluded.  To  die  is  not  more  to  leave 
this  world  than  it  is  to  enter  another.     Doubt- 


DEATH  AND  HADES.  49 

less  that  which  returns  to  God,  goes  into  a  place 
as  fit  for  a  reasonable  soul  as  the  grave  is  for 
decaying  flesh ;  and  so  our  thoughts  of  death 
should  be  shaped  into  reverent  inquiries  as  to 
what  God  has  revealed  concerning  the  recepta- 
cle into  which  the  soul  of  man  must  pass  when 
his  change  comes. 

When  we  reflect  how  thin  a  veil  is  between 
us  and  that  abode  of  spirits,  and  how  very  soon 
we  may  find  ourselves  within  it,  how  strange 
appears  our  ordinary  indifference  to  what  we 
may  all  know  about  death,  if  we  choose!  Our 
occupations  may  indeed  be  pressing,  but  each 
of  us  must  find  time  to  die  ;  and,  in  fact,  we  are 
all  dying  at  this  moment.  The  law  of  death  is 
even  now  working  in  our  members ;  every  breath 
we  draw  brings  us  nearer  to  that  last  expiring 
gasp  which  shall  lil^erate  our  spirit  from  the 
flesh.  The  wood  of  our  coffins  may  even  now 
be  grown  among  the  trees  of  the  forest ;  even 
the  tissue  of  our  shrouds  may  have  been  woven 
in  the  loom.  God  has  set  our  day.  In  his  book 
it  is  duly  calendared ;  and  duly  must  we  in  turn 
submit  to  the  just  decree  which,  without  excep- 
tion or  mistake,  through  a  long  series  of  ages, 
has  laid  in  the  dust  of  death  the  successive  gen- 
erations of  mankind. 

But  as   for  the    mere   struggles  of  dissolu- 


50  DEATH  AND  HADES. 

tion,  let  us  not  think  much  of  them.  They 
may,  or  may  not,  be  severe.  They  belong  to 
sickness  rather  than  to  dying.  Death  itself 
is  but  the  last  breath.  He  who  has  swooned  or 
fainted,  has  possibly  suffered  all  of  pain  that  is 
known  to  the  departing  soul,  which  the  body 
dismisses  with  such  frightful  contortions  and 
apparent  agonies.  Certain  it  is  that  believers 
have  professed  to  suffer  nothing,  even  while  ex- 
piring in  the  flames  of  martyrdom.  With  the 
body's  part  in  dying,  we  may  at  all  events  for- 
bear to  afflict  ourselves  beforehand ;  and  it  is  a 
truly  Christian  practice  to  calm  every  shrink- 
ing forethought,  with  an  ejaculation  of  sweet 
submission  to  the  will  of  God.  All  in  his  own 
good  time,  and  in  his  own  wise  way,  let  him 
deliver  us  from  the  burthen  of  the  flesh ;  and 
if  it  be  his  gracious  will,  may  our  death  be  ac- 
complished without  extraordinary  pain.  "  Not 
for  that  we  would  be  unclothed,  but  clothed 
upon,  that  mortality  might  be  swallowed  up 
of  life." 

With  the  body's  part  in  dying,  we  are  soon 
over,  at  the  worst ;  and  then  it  is  left  to  the  earth 
as  it  was — an  unconscious  clog,  no  more  neces- 
sary to  the  soul's  continued  existence,  than 
hair  which  has  been  shorn  from  the  head,  or 
garments  which  we  have  put  by.  The  Chris- 
tian knows,  indeed,  that  he  has  not  done  with 


DEATH  AND  HADES.  51 

it ;  it  is  part  of  his  nature  as  man  ;  lie  is  to 
receive  it  again,  out  of  th«  earth ;  and  in  it  he 
is  to  see  God.  But  that  comes  of  the  super- 
abounding  of  life,  in  Christ,  who  not  only  takes 
away  the  sting  of  death,  but  despoils  the  grave 
of  its  victory.  Meantime  the  spirit  lives  on 
without  it;  it  returns  to  God  who  gave  it;  it  is 
in  the  custody  of  its  Creator.  And  here  is  the 
great  thought  of  death,  as  being  our  instanta- 
neous introduction  to  disembodied  existence ; 
to  a  state  not  natural  nor  final,  but  one  of  trans- 
ition, and  limited  in  its  duration ;  to  a  state 
of  conscious  welfare  or  misery ;  to  a  state  which 
is  the  unalterable  foretaste  of  eternal  happiness, 
or  of  death  that  is  everlasting. 

Concerning  this  state  of  the  departed,  much 
more  is  revealed  than  seems  to  be  commonly 
understood.  Holy  Scripture  speaks  freely  of  a 
place  which,  strictly  speaking,  is  neither  hea- 
ven nor  hell,  but  to  which  it  gives  the  name 
Shcol,  in  the  Hebrew,  and  in  the  Greek,  Hades. 
Unfortunately,  we  give  the  same  name,  in  Eng- 
lish, to  this  SJieol,  and  to  the  place  of  final  per- 
dition, calling  them  Hell  indifferently,  and  thus 
making  painful  confusion  in  the  minds  of  the 
uninstructed.  Suffice  it,  then,  that  as  in  the 
Father's  house  there  are  many  mansions,  and 
yet  there  is  but  one  house,  or  heaven;  so  in 
Sheol  there  are  two  repo.sitorie8  of  spirits,  though 


52  DEATH  AND  HADES. 

it  is  one  Sheol.  To  Slieol  descend  alike  the  souls 
of  all  who  die ;  but  there  each  has  "  his  own 
place;"  the  righteous  in  a  refreshing  abode,  call- 
ed paradise,  and  Abraham's  bosom  ;  the  wicked 
in  a  place  of  torment,  separated  from  paradise 
by  an  impassable  gulf,  or  abyss.  Such,  then,  is 
the  receptacle  of  the  dead,  in  which,  while  their 
bodies  moulder  in  the  earth,  the  souls  of  good 
and  bad  await  the  resurrection.  Then,  after 
judgment,  soul  and  body  together  shall  be  glo- 
rified, or  cast  into  the  eternal  flame.  The  final 
abode  of  the  righteous  is  the  heaven  of  heavens ; 
the  final  prison  of  the  lost  is  outer  darkness,  in- 
finitely remote  from  the  presence  of  God  and 
the  eternal  home  of  his  redeemed.  But  not  till 
the  resurrection  and  the  judgment  are  the  saints 
invited  to  enter  the  joy  of  their  Lord ;  nor  the 
wicked  banished  to  that  outer  darkness,  in  the 
awful  sentence,  "  Depart,  ye  cursed,  into  ever- 
lasting fire,  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  an- 
gels." 

With  this  statement  of  Christian  doctrine,  all 
Scripture  will  be  found  coincident,  while  no- 
thing can  be  more  perplexing  to  the  reader  of 
God's  word,  than  any  other  idea,  whether  bor- 
rowed from  the  Romish  fiction  of  purgatory,  or 
confused  by  the  popular  notions  of  immediate 
judgment;   at  the  time  of  death.     Thus  the 


DEATH  AND  HADES.  53 

psalmist  inquires,  "What  man  is  he  that  liveth, 
and  shall  not  see  death,  and  shall  he  deliver 
his  soul  from  the  hand  of  Sheol?'^  According 
to  this  text,  all  go  to  one  Sheol,  though  not  ne- 
cessarily to  one  condition  or  place  therein.  So 
too,  the  aged  patriarch,  lamenting  his  beloved 
Joseph,  says,  "  I  will  go  down  to  Sheol,  to  my 
son,  mourning;"  while  to  the  same  Sheol  passed, 
together,  the  wicked  Saul  and  the  pious  Jona- 
than, as  the  spirit  of  Samuel  prophesied,  saying, 
"  To-morrow  shalt  thou  and  thy  sons  be  with 
me."  We  infer  that  Samuel  himself  was  also 
there,  and  that  from  this  abode,  God  had  per- 
mitted him  to  go  forth,  temporarily,  to  the 
earth.  But  while  the  Old  Scriptures  are  full 
of  similar  allusions,  it  is  from  the  pages  of  the 
New  Testament  that  we  gather  clearer  intima- 
tions concerning  these  invisible  realities.  Thus 
the  rich  man  and  Lazarus  descended  to  the 
same  Sheol,  or  Hades  ;  though  Lazarus  was 
borne  thither  by  angels,  and  reposed  in  Abra- 
ham's bosom,  while  the  other,  "  in  Hades,  lifted 
up  his  eyes,  being  in  torments."  Between  the 
twain  we  learn,  moreover,  that  "  there  is  a  great 
gulf  fixed ;"  and  though  even  across  that  gulf 
words  might  be  exchanged  between  Abraham 
and  his  reprobate  son,  we  learn  that  to  pass  it 
u  impossible,  even  fori«pirits  disembodied.  With 


54  DEATH  AND  HADES. 

what  is  thus  revealed  by  our  Lord  himself, 
agrees  entirely  what  the  Scripture  relates  con- 
cerning his  descent  into  hell.  "  This  day," 
said  he  to  the  penitent  thief,  "  shalt  thou  be 
with  me  in  paradise."  That  is,  in  that  part  of 
Sheol  where  the  soul  of  Lazarus  reposed  in 
Abraham's  bosom.  And  if,  with  this  descent 
into  Sheol,  we  connect  that  "  preaching  to  the 
spirits  in  prison,"  of  which  St.  Peter  speaks, 
and  which  the  Church  has  significantly  se- 
lected as  the  Epistle  for  Easter  Even,  it  is  mani- 
fest that  the  Master  of  death  may  have  crossed 
the  great  gulf,  in  demonstration  of  his  power 
and  sovereignty,  and  to  give  the  nobler  victory 
to  the  strong  right  hand  by  which  he  unloosed 
the  pains  of  death,  and  went  forth  from  Hades, 
and  took  again  his  flesh.  It  appears,  moreover, 
by  Abraham's  example,  that  without  actually 
passing  into  the  prison,  he  might  have  preached 
to  the  spirits  there  confined,  convincing  them 
of  the  enormity  of  their  sins,  and  informing 
them  of  his  completed  sacrifice,  of  which  they, 
beforehand,  had  been  the  despisers  and  re- 
jectors. 

Thus  of  our  blessed  Saviour,  it  was  true,  as 
of  those  whom  he  has  made  his  brethren,  that 
his  body  returned  to  the  earth  as  it  was,  and  his 
human  soul  to  God  who  gave  it.     Both  his  soul 


DEATH  AND  UADES.  55 

and  his  flesh,  however,  were  exempted  from  the 
ordinary  lot  of  humanity.  "  Thou  wilt  not  leave 
my  soul  in  hell,"  says  the  psalmist,  speaking  of 
Christ,  ''  neither  wilt  thou  suffer  thine  Holy  One 
to  see  corruption."  In  the  grave,  his  blessed  bo- 
dy was  untainted  with  decay  ;  on  the  third  day 
his  soul  returned  from  Sheol,  and  Jesus  rose 
from  the  dead,  to  die  no  more.  Thus,  as  St. 
Peter  declares,  he  fulfilled  what  the  psalmist 
had  prophetically  spoken  of  the  descent  into 
hell ;  and,  not  only  so,  but  thus  likewise  he 
showed  our  way  to  his  right  hand.  He  had 
been  in  paradise,  but  had  "  not  yet  ascended 
to  his  Father,"  as  he  assured  the  wondering 
Magdalene.  It  was  not  till  he  had  resumed  his 
flesh,  that  he  ascended  into  heaven ;  nor  until 
we,  like  him,  are  clothed  in  our  resurrection 
bodies,  does  he  promise  to  receive  us  to  his  own 
presence,  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father. 

That  none  of  the  saints  departed  are  yet 
glorified  with  Him,  is  not  less  apparent  from 
other  Scriptures.  David  has  doubtless  been  at 
rest,  in  paradise,  ever  since  the  day  he  fell 
asleep;  yet  of  David,  St.  Peter  expressly  af- 
firms, that  he  "is  not  yet  ascended  into  the 
heavens."  Our  Lord  says  the  same  of  all  the 
ji  ist  who  had  died  before  his  incarnation.  "  No 
\u\n  hath  ascended  up  to  heaven,  but  he  that 

5* 


56  DEATH  AND  HADES. 

came  down   from   heaven^   even  the  Son   of 
Man." 

In  accordance  with  this  doctrine,  we  may 
further  observe,  that  a  grand  system  of  reser- 
vation, till  the  day  of  judgment,  seems  to  in- 
clude alike  the  righteous  and  the  wicked,  and 
also  the  rebel  angels.  St.  Jude  says  ''the  an- 
gels which  kept  not  their  first  estate,  he  hath 
reserved,  in  everlasting  chains,  under  darkness, 
unto  the  judgment  of  the  great  day."  So  St. 
Peter :  "  The  Lord  knoweth  how  to  deliver  the 
godly  out  of  temptation,  and  to  reserve  the  un- 
just, until  the  day  of  judgment,  to  be  pun- 
ished." Miserable  as  are  the  lost  angels  and 
lost  sinners  now,  they  are  but  as  convicted 
criminals  in  their  confinement,  awaiting  sen- 
tence and  final  retribution.  Lost  spirits  are 
wretched  already;  but  they  are  reserved  to 
the  day  of  judgment,  and  to  the  resurrection 
of  their  bodies,  to  be  cast  into  the  fire  prepared 
for  the  devil  and  his  angels.  Those  angels 
also  shall  then  be  first  consigned  to  the  fire 
prepared  for  them.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is 
not  till  that  day  of  consummation  that  the  re- 
wards of  the  righteous  shall  be  complete.  They, 
too,  are  reserved,  for  so  St.  Paul  declares  to 
Timothy,  concerning  himself : — "  Henceforth 
there  is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteous- 


DEATH  AND  HADES.  57 

aess,  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge, 
shall  give  me  at  that  day  ;  and  not  to  me  only, 
but  unto  all  them  also  that  lave  his  appearing!* 
On  the  rejection  of  these  great  truths,  and  by 
teaching  that  the  greater  saints  already  reign 
with  Christ  in  glory;  and  by  teaching,  further, 
that  great  sinners  may  be  admitted  there  by 
process  of  indulgences  and  prayers,  before  the 
judgment ;  the  apostate  papacy  has  built  up  its 
enormous  system  of  Mariolatry,  saint-worship, 
and  masses  for  the  dead.  In  accordance  with 
the  Scriptures,  and  the  consistent  testimony  of 
the  primitive  Church,  we  believe,  then,  that  the 
souls  of  the  departed  faithful  are  in  joy  and  fe- 
licity ;  and  we  have  also  reason  to  believe  that 
they  enjoy,  in  paradise,  at  least  the  vision  of 
Jesus.  Such  appears  to  be  the  intimation  of  St. 
Paul,  when  he  "desires  to  depart  and  be  with 
Christ,"  though  he  elsewhere  speaks  of  the  re- 
surrection as  the  day  of  his  great  recompense  ; 
and  again,  says  of  that  day,  and  "  so  shall  we 
ever  be  with  the  Lord."  The  two  ideas  are 
nevertheless  entirely  harmonious,  if  we  admit 
the  vision  of  Jesus  to  be  the  unspeakable  joy  of 
paradise,  and  its  antepast  of  heaven.  The  dy 
ing  Stephen  saw  heaven  opened,  and  Jp*«5»a 
"  standing  at  the  right  hand  of  God."  Ana  ii 
go,  while  he  was  yet  in  the  flesh,  and  far  away 


58  DEATH  AND  HADES. 

in  this  lower  world,  surely  we  may  believe  that 
he  has  never  since  ceased  to  behold  Him,  from 
the  border-land  of  the  blessed.  They  see  him 
there,  perhaps,  as  he  was  seen  by  the  apostles, 
when  he  was  trans*figured  before  them.  But  a 
still  more  glorious  vision  awaits  them,  at  the 
last,  for  St.  John  says,  "We  know  that  when  He 
shall  appear  we  shall  be  like  him,  for  we  shall 
see  him,  as  he  is."  To  see  him  as  he  is,  in  all 
his  glory,  is  a  joy,  therefore,  to  which  even 
apostles  are  reserved :  the  joy  which  eye  hath 
not  seen,  nor  ear  heard ;  the  joy  of  joys  pre- 
pared for  those  that  love  him.  Meanwhile,  al- 
beit in  inferior  bliss,  "  the  souls  of  the  righteous 
are  in  the  hand  of  God,  and  there  shall  no  tor- 
ment touch  them." 

Finally,  if  we  examine  those  Scriptures  which 
may  be  thought  less  harmonious  with  these 
statements,  we  shall  find  them,  in  fact,  strictly 
in  keeping  with  the  entire  mass  of  Scriptural 
testimony,  as  the  Church  receives  it.  For  the 
translation  of  Enoch  and  Elijah,  bodily,  into  the 
heavens,  is  by  no  means  contrary  to  the  idea 
that  they  have  been  ever  since  in  paradise ;  in 
heavenly  places,  but  not  in  the  third  heaven. 
The  same  explanation  may  apply  to  the  mar- 
vellous case  of  those  who  rose  with  Jesus,  as  the 
first  fruits   of  the   general   resurrection.     St 


DEATH  AND  HADES.  59 

I 

Paul,  whose  account  of  his  miraculous  rapture, 
in  his  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  has 
b^en  thought  by  some  to  prove  the  identity  of 
paradise  and  the  third  heaven,  seems  to  me,  on 
the  other  hand,  to  teach  us  expressly  to  dis- 
tinguish them,  by  recording,  as  two  several  in- 
stances, and  with  marked  exactness  of  narra- 
tion, his  two-fold  admission  into  paradise  and 
heaven,  in  the  course  of  a  single  ecstasy ;  whe- 
ther in  the  body,  or  out  of  the  body,  being  un- 
known to  him,  and  not  revealed  by  the  Spirit. 
So,  at  least,  it  was  understood  by  the  primitive 
fathers ;  and  when  an  erratic  genius  of  the  third 
century  first  broached  an  opposite  idea,  he  was 
rebuked  by  the  common  sense  of  the  faithful,  to 
which  one  gave  utterance  in  the  words,  "  Who 
can  hearken  to  Origen,  teaching  that  the  place 
of  paradise  is  the  third  heaven  ?" 

There  are  some  aspects  of  death  in  which  it 
is  poetically  viewed,  especially  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament, as  dull,  and  dark,  and  insensible,  and 
as  greatly  to  be  deplored.  But  such  express- 
ions are  strictly  appropriate  only  to  the  sad  con- 
^lition  of  the  body,  which  no  more  beholds  the 
ight ;  which  is  degraded,  and  reduced  to  a  mass 
of  corruption  ;  and  which  can  no  longer  praise 
God;  nor  do  works  of  faith  in  preparation  for 
judgment ;  nor  serve  the  Lord  as  an  instrument 


60  DEATH   AND   HADES. 

of  propagating  his  truth,  and  of  showing  forth 
his  glory.  This  being  understood,  how  emphatic 
the  assertion,  that  "the  sting  of  death  is  sin." 
Even  the  mouldering  flesh  of  the  righteous  is 
"subjected  in  hope,"  while  his  soul  is  immedi- 
ately beatified  in  part.  He  knows,  too,  that  body 
and  soul  together,  he  shall  wake  up  after  Christ's 
likeness,  and  thus  be  satisfied  forever.  It  is 
only  the  death  of  the  impenitent  which  is  death 
indeed.  The  spirit  enters  into  torment,  and  the 
body  rots  in  the  grave ;  and  the  only  consum- 
mation to  be  anticipated  is  that  of  the  second 
death,  when  body  and  soul,  alike,  shall  be  cast 
into  the  eternal  fire,  of  which  the  pains  of 
Hades,  that  torment  the  spirit  only,  are  the 
mere  foretaste  and  pledge. 

In  forgiving  their  sins,  therefore,  Jesus  Christ 
has  taken  out  the  sting  of  death,  for  all  that 
sleep  in  him.  "  They  rest  from  their  labours." 
Nay,  he  is  said  to  have  destroyed  death,  because 
to  his  saints  it  is  now  made  the  mere  gate  of 
entrance  to  immortality.  Thus  he  has  already 
fulfilled  his  promise,  ''  Oh  death,  I  will  be  thy 
plagues  !"  and  when,  by  his  mighty  power,  he 
empties  Sheol,  and  makes  the  earth  and  sea  re- 
store their  buried  millions,  then  will  he  fulfill 
the  residue  of  that  promise,  "  Oh  grave,  I  will 
be  thy  destruction  !"     Until  Jesus  died  and  rose 


DEATH    AND   HADES.  61 

again,  the  sceptre  of  death  was  unbroken. 
Death  reigned !  But  now  he  is  a  feeble  and 
despised  potentate.  Jesus  has  mastered  him ; 
Christ's  children  defy  him  to  separate  them 
from  his  keeping;  and  only  they  w^ho  "love 
death,"  and  cling  to  sin,  are  in  any  danger  of 
exclusion,  at  the  last,  from  that  glorious  city 
where  there  is  no  more  death. 

The  day  of  a  Christian's  departure  is,  there- 
fore, better  indeed  than  the  day  of  his  birth. 
Oh  bitter  day  that  admits  a  soul  into  this  bad 
world — its  temptations  ;  its  fearful  perils  !  Oh 
glorious  day,  that  frees  us  from  sin,  and  that, 
in  one  short  moment,  breaks  the  hold  of  death 
upon  us,  as  mortals,  forever !  The  death  of  the 
righteous  is  a  triumph.  The  flesh  is  shaken, 
and  removed  like  a  cottage,  but  the  soul  breaks 
forth  into  the  sunshine  of  the  life  eternal.  Our 
blessed  Saviour  taught  us  the  worst  of  a  be- 
liever's death,  when  he  said,  "Lazarus  sleep- 
eth."  And  oh,  the  victory  implied  in  that  which 
is  recorded  of  St.  Stephen,  that  amid  the  curses 
of  ferocious  men,  and  bruised  and  mangled  by 
the  stones  they  were  casting  at  him — "  he  fell 
asleep."  Shall  we  then  fear  to  die  upon  our  pil- 
lows? Think  of  the  consolations  which  wait, 
like  angels,  round  the  dying  Christian :  those 
holy  ministries  of  his  sweet  mother,  the  Church, 


62  DEATH   AND   HADES. 

the  Bride  of  Christ ;  those  precious  promises 
which  she  rehearses  out  of  Scripture;  those 
visible  services  of  Christian  friends,  and  those 
unseen,  but  strengthening  helps,  which  the 
angels  of  God  hover  around  the  scene  to  im- 
part ;  above  all,  that  presence  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
the  Comforter ;  and  that  voice  of  Jesus,  which 
breaks  through  the  dark  waters,  as  they  close 
upon  the  soul,  saying,  "  Fear  not,  I  am  with 
thee.'' 

Perhaps,  as  the  dying  saint  closes  his  eyes 
to  this  vain  world,  his  spiritual  vision  is  purged 
forthwith,  and  opens,  like  the  first  martyr's, 
upon  the  vision  of  Christ.  ''  Behold,  I  see  Je- 
sus," is  possibly  the  first  utterance  of  the  free 
spirit.  At  all  events,  the  soiil  that,  a  moment 
before,  was  swooning  and  panting  for  deliver- 
ance, wakes  up,  as  from  a  fearful  dream,  and  is 
at  once  refreshed  and  strengthened  by  the  sight 
of  glorious  angels,  who  are  bearing  him,  on 
swift  wings,  to  the  repose  of  the  saints.  Oh, 
the  joy  of  the  hour,  when  the  soul  has  fulfilled 
the  appointment  "once  to  die,"  and  now,  like 
Jesus,  "  dieth  no  more  ;  death  hath  no  more 
dominion  over  him  !"  Even  his  imperfect  bles- 
sedness ijs  ptiradise;  and  then,  after  a  little 
while,  ccmies  the  consummated  bliss  of  the  res- 


DKAin    AND   HAHES.  63 

urrection  ;  and  then,  the  eternal  mansions,  and 
the  joy  of  the  Lord ! 

What  a  contrast  is  furnished  by  the  death  in 
which  there  is  no  hope !  I  do  not  intend  to 
paint  it,  as  it  has  been  my  lot  to  see  it,  nor  to 
dwell  upon  the  horrors  of  the  scene,  from  which 
good  angels  turn  away,  and  where,  either  the 
torpid  conscience  cheats  itself  into  delusions, 
which  a  few  minutes  dispel  forever,  or  else  the 
despairing  conscience  seems  to  antedate  the 
torments  of  perdition.  But  as  the  hour  ap- 
pointed is  certainly  near  to  every  one  of  us, 
let  me  ask  of  each  one  that  hears  me,  how  he 
intends  to  die.  For  a  moment,  anticipate  the 
day,  and  imagine  your  own  dissolution  as  past, 
and  look  at  the  eternal  consequences  to  your 
soul.  At  last,  you  too  are  no  more  ;  men  say 
of  you — He  is  gone.  They  bear  you  to  the 
narrow  house  appointed  for  all  living,  and  lay 
the  turf  decently  upon  your  grave,  and  lo !  the 
sexton's  spade  has  smoothed  your  last  bed,  and 
the  world  is  over  with  you,  as  with  others. 
Where  is  your  soul  ?  What  do  you  think  of 
the  Gospel  now,  with  its  long,  patient,  and 
pressing  offers  of  mercy  ?  And  what  do  you 
think  now  of  the  world,  which  was  so  engross- 
ing a  few  days  ago?     Lo!  another  dwells  in 


64  DEATH    AND   HADES. 

your  house,  and  your  name  ceases  to  be  spoken  ; 
and  the  world  whirls  on  as  ever  before ;  and 
even  your  tombstone  crumbles  with  its  record 
of  your  name  and  birth  ;  and  all  the  long,  long 
time  in  which  judgment  delays,  where  is  your 
poor  soul  ?  And  will  it  be  better  off  when  the 
Judgment  also  is  over?  What,  then,  will  you 
have  received  in  exchange  for  your  soul  ?  He 
who  lives  in  unrepented  sin,  rises  up  and  lies 
down,  every  day,  as  it  were,  on  the  treacherous 
outside  of  a  devouring  hell  beneath  him.  He 
who  dies  in  sin,  must  awake  to  judgment  in  all 
the  beggary  of  the  account  which  will  confront 
him  in  those  books  that  shall  be  opened ;  and 
how  shall  he  cancel  that  record  of  deeds  doite 
in  the  body,  or  hope  to  evade  the  awful  me- 
mory of  the  heart-searching  God  ? 

In  conclusion,  while  I  beg  the  worldly  and 
frivolous  to  think  thus  of  themselves ;  and  to 
look  thus  steadfastly  at  the  horrid  figure,  that 
sits  masked,  and  crowned  with  flowers,  at  all 
their  feasts,  and  mingles  in  all  their  dances,  and 
haunts  their  path  by  day,  and  their  bed  by 
night ;  let  me  warn  the  consistent  Christian  that 
he  should  not  even  speak  of  death  as  the  King 
of  Terrors.  To  you  he  is  no  longer  a  tyrant; 
for  your  elder  brother  who  is  his  Conqueror, 


DEATH   AND   HADES.  65 

and  who  has  the  keys  of  death  and  of  hell,  has 
risen  from  the  dead  on  purpose  to  deliver  those 
who,  through  fear  of  death,  were  all  their  life- 
time subject  to  bondage.  Why  should  you 
continue  in  this  bondage?  Entreat  the  Lord 
to  increase  your  faith,  and  remember  that  your 
Saviour  has  so  "  tasted  death  for  ewevy  man," 
that  if  you  die  in  the  Lord,  its  bitterness  will 
not  be  found  in  your  cup  at  all.  Learn,  also, 
to  think  of  the  last  messenger  as  your  friend, 
and,  if  possible,  cherish  a  submissive  desire  to 
depart  and  be  wath  Christ.  Visit  often  the 
sick  and  dying,  that  you  may  learn  to  die. 
Never  shun  a  funeral,  or  stop  your  ears  against 
a  knell.  Let  such  incidents  as  haunt  and  tor- 
ture the  superstitious,  become  to  you  welcome 
mementos  against  the  night  that  cometh,  and 
impressive  calls  to  work  while  it  is  day.  And 
sometimes,  when  you  wake  in  the  dark  night, 
alone  with  God,  call  to  mind  the  loneliness  of 
the  soul's  departure,  and  let  the  night-watches 
hearken  to  your  earnest  ejaculations  for  a  holy, 
happy  dtath.  Happy  is  the  believer  to  whom 
things  temporal  cleave  thus  lightly,  and  who 
is  always  ready  to  put  them  off!  Blessed 
Jesus,  let  none  of  us  at  last  be  disappointed 
of  our  hope !     Be  with  us,  oh  thou  Shepherd 


66  DEATH   AND   HADES. 

of  our  souls,  with  thy  rod,  and  thy  staff,  when 
our  feet  begin  to  stumble  on  the  dark  moun- 
tains, that  so  in  us  also  may  be  brought  to 
pass  the  saying  that  is  written,  "  Death  is 
swallowed  up  in  victory !" 


SERMON    IV 


THE   PUNISHMENT   OF  THE  WICKED, 


THIRD   SUNDAY  IN   ADVENT. 


"Who  amoxg  us  shall  dwell  with  the  devouring  tire? 
Who  among  us  shall  dwell  with  everlasting  burnings? 
Isaiah  zxxiii.  14. 

It  is  part  of  the  duty  of  the  ministers  and 
stewards  of  the  gospel  of  Christ,  to  warn  men 
to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come.  And  although 
the  glad  tidings  of  salvation  are,  in  their  na- 
ture, delightful  to  hear,  and  blessed  to  speak, 
it  becomes  us  to  remember  that  they  imply  the 
misery  of  fallen  man,  as  justly  liable  to  eternal 
judgment.  If  we  preach  salvation,  'tis  because 
there  is  an  everlasting  perdition,  from  which 
souls  may  be  rescued  :  if  the  message  is  a  joy- 
ful one,  'tis  because  the  peril  is  fearful.  In 
short  an  atoning  Saviour  implies  a  lost  world; 
the  groans  and  the  blood  of  Calvary,  make  it 
evident  that  the  punishment  from  which  Christ 
6*  (67) 


68  THE   PUNISHMENT   OF   THE   WICKED. 

offers  to  deliver  us  must  be  great.  And  since 
he  never  proposed  to  save  us  in  our  sins,  but 
only  as  he  saves  us  from  them,  it  cannot  be 
doubted  that  there  is  danger  of  eternal  death, 
until  eternal  life  is  secured.  Our  commission 
to  publish  peace,  is  accompanied  with  the  dread- 
ful responsibility  of  warning  men  that  "  he  that 
belie veth  not  shall  be  damned."  Such  are  some 
of  the  considerations  which  move  me  to  con- 
tinue the  subject  of  Judgment,  in  connection 
with  this  terrible  award  :  and  painful  as  it  is  to 
perform  this  duty,  I  undertake  it,  not  without 
prayer  to  God,  that  I  may  be  so  happy  as  to 
speak  a  word  in  season,  to  some  soul  in  danger 
of  perishing  for  ever.  Blessed  indeed  this  bur- 
then of  the  Lord  if  what  it  pains  me  to  utter, 
and  what  it  may  shock  you  to  hear,  may  be  so 
salutary  in  its  impressions  of  wholesome  fear, 
that  we  may,  together,  be  wise  in  time,  and  so 
escape  the  damnation  of  hell.  Which  may  the 
good  Lord  grant  through  the  mercies  and  mer- 
its of  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour.     Amen. 

In  endeavouring  to  learn  how  one  should  tes- 
tify concerning  the  wrath  to  come,  I  have  turn- 
ed to  St.  Paul,  as  the  great  doctor  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, and  I  am  overwhelmed  with  the  convic- 
tion that  if  he  be  the  model  of  a  preacher,  we 
ministers  do  not  enough  imitate  his  fidelity,  in 


THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  WICKED.     69 

"warning  every  man,  night  and  day,  with 
tears."  I  am  struck  too  with  his  sublime  con- 
fidence in  his  Master's  promises,  and  with  his 
not  less  sublime  repose  in  His  character,  as 
alike  merciful  and  just.  He  offers  no  apology 
for  the  Judge  of  the  world  ;  he  regards  not  the 
cavils  of  rebellious  and  unbelieving  hearts ;  he 
assumes  that  Christ  will  vindicate  his  own 
justice  when  he  condemns  the  guilty,  and  that 
every  lost  sinner  will  be  satisfied  of  his  ill-de- 
serts, and  of  his  having  destroyed  his  own  self. 
So,  then,  I  learn  my  duty,  simply  to  testify  to 
you  what  God  has  promised  to  do  with  the  un- 
godly. I  am  not  concerned  to  show  what  finite 
minds  would  make  the  law,  but  only  what  God 
has  made  it.  I  am  bound  to  take  my  Master 
at  his  word,  and  not  to  dispute  his  truth  by 
complimenting  his  mercies.  When  he  bids 
me  say,  then,  that  "  whosoever  believeth  not 
shall  be  damned ;"  and  when  he  explains  him- 
self bj  asserting  that  the  punishment  he  awards 
to  the  guilty  is  perpetual,  I  must  simply  declare 
the  message  he  has  given  me,  beseeching  you, 
of  your  ownselves,  to  search  the  Scriptures 
whether  these  things  are  so.  It  is  mine  to  blow 
the  trumpet,  and  to  preach  judgment  to  come : 
it  is  yours  to  escape  for  your  life,  or  your  blood 
will  be  on  your  own  heads.     You  hear  the 


70     THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  WICKED. 

gospel :  if  you  do  not  obey  it  you  will  spend 
eternity  in  everlasting  fire,  as  certainly  as  you 
now  have  the  opportunity  not  merely  of  esca- 
ping God's  just  wrath,  but  of  making  sure  your 
calling  and  election  to  eternal  life. 

Enough,  then,  that  the  very  offer  of  salvation 
implies  our  universal  condemnation  to  eternal 
death,  and  the  great  peril  of  our  souls  as  sub- 
ject to  such  a  penalty.  Concerning  the  actual 
sufierings  of  the  finally  lost,  we  are  more  fully 
warned,  moreover,  by  many  express  assurances 
of  Scripture.  For  example,  the  great  prophet 
of  the  Gospel,  whom  we  read  so  constantly  at 
this  season,  mingles  his  rapturous  anticipations 
of  the  Redeemer,  with  frequent  repetitions  of 
alarms,  such  as  w^e  have  in  the  text ;  in  which 
he  clearly  intimates  the  possibility  of  an  eter- 
nal perdition,  of  which  the  pangs  are  those  of 
perpetual  fire.  The  same  prophet,  in  one  of 
our  Advent  Lessons,  gives  the  name  of  Tophet 
to  the  terrible  place  of  this  unquenchable  flame. 
The  Hebrew  supplies  another  name,  "Gehen- 
na,'* which  is  the  synonym  of  Tophet,  and  this 
word  is  borrowed  by  the  New  Testament  from 
the  Old,  and  applied  to  the  "everlasting  fire, 
prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels."  Thus 
then  Tophet  and  its  equivalent  Gehenna,  are  the 
Scriptural  names  of  that  place  of  torment  to 


THE   PUNISHMENT   OF   THE    KICKED.  71 

whicli  we  ordinarily  confine  the  name  of  hell, 
and  which  should  be  distinguished  from  the  in- 
termediate abode  of  the  lost,  as  being  the  eter- 
nal receptacle  of  their  bodies,  as  well  as  of  their 
souls.  We  must  not  forget  that  the  existence 
of  such  a  place  is  distinctly  revealed,  without 
reference  to  its  name  :  yet  the  name  itself  is  of 
importance,  when  we  consider  the  origin  of  its 
application  to  a  reality  so  unspeakably  dreadful. 
There  was  under  the  southern  wall  of  Jeru- 
salem, at  the  foot  of  the  cliff  on  which  the  city 
sat  as  a  queen,  a  valley  once  known  as  the 
beautiful  Gehenna — the  vale  of  the  son  of  Hin- 
nom.  In  those  days  Gehenna,  or  Tophet,  was 
a  name  associated  with  everything  delightful 
to  thought  and  sense ;  but  when  once  it  had 
been  profaned  by  the  detestable  rites  of  Moloch ; 
by  the  burning  of  human  sacrifices,  and  by  the 
practice  of  every  enormity  which  the  sinful 
heart  could  contrive,  in  the  worship  of  devils,  it 
became  a  speaking  symbol  of  the  place  ^*  or- 
dained of  old,"  for  the  fallen  angels.  It  was 
made  the  more  striking  type  of  hell,  by  the 
execrable  uses  to  which  it  was  finally  condemn- 
ed. The  garbage  and  offal  of  the  city  were 
there  deposited,  and  there  became  the  prey  of 
worms  and  noisome  reptiles.  To  abate  the 
baneful  odours  of  such  an  accumulation,  and  to 


72     THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  WICKED. 

prevent  such  a  mass  of  filth  from  breeding  pes- 
tilence, continual  fires  were  kept  up  in  the  pol- 
luted valley.  The  sentinel  who  in  the  dark 
night  patrolled  the  lofty  walls  of  Jerusalem, 
beheld  far  beneath  him  the  lurid  flame,  with  its 
reek  of  poisonous  vapour  and  fetid  smoke.  If 
Mount  Zion  served  as  a  figure  of  heaven,  no 
wonder  then  that  Isaiah  seized  upon  Tophet  as 
ajQfording  the  fit  imagery  of  hell.  "  The  breath 
of  the  Lord  like  a  stream  of  brimstone  doth  kin- 
dle it."  Such  is  his  impassioned  description  of 
the  more  terrible  pit  to  which  again  he  abruptly 
refers  in  the  text :  Who  among  us  shall  dwell 
with  devouring  fire  ? 

But  our  blessed  Lord  himself  has  employed 
the  same  imagery,  and  with  still  more  striking 
reference  to  an  eternal  abode  of  misery.  In  the 
Tophet,  beneath  Jerusalem,  the  worm  made 
his  meal  and  perished ;  the  fire  smouldered  till 
the  season  of  the  rains,  and  then  was  for  a  time 
put  out.  But  our  Saviour  warns  us  against  a 
Gehenna,  whose  fire  "  never  shall  be  quench- 
ed ;"  and  in  his  earnest  appeal,  while  he  ex- 
horts us  to  pluck  out  the  right  eye,  or  cut  off 
the  right  hand,  rather  than  be  cast  with  both 
into  this  dreadful  hell,  he  repeats  three  several 
times,  a  lamentably  descriptive  wailing  over 


THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  WICKED.     73 

lost  souls,   in  the  words — "  Where  their  worm 
dieth  not  and  their  fire  is  not  quenched." 

As  for  the  history  of  this  eternal  Tophet,  it 
was  not  prepared  for  men,  but  "  for  the  devil 
and  his  angels."  With  this  description  of  our 
Lord  agrees  St.  Peter's  testimony,  that  *^GoD 
spared  not  the  angels  that  fell,  but  cast  them 
down  to  Tartarus,  and  delivered  them  into 
chains  of  darkness,  to  be  reserved  unto  judg- 
ment." So  too  St.  Jude  :  *^The  angels  which 
kept  not  thjeir  first  estate,  but  left  their  own 
habitation,  he  hath  reserved  in  everlasting 
chains  under  darkness,  unto  the  judgment  of 
the  great  day."  They  are  now  in  chains,  but 
not  yet  in  prison ;  nor  do  their  chains  forbid 
them  a  range  in  this  dark  world,  in  which  the 
prince  of  darkness  has  so  many  worshippers. 
Here,  for  a  little  longer,  "they  believe  and 
tremble,"  as  was  evident  when  they  cried  out 
to  Christ,  **  Art  thou  come  to  torment  us  be- 
fore our  time?"  And  here  we  who  believe  and 
hope,  must  maintain  our  fight  with  such  terri- 
ble enemies  of  our  salvation  ;  for  our  contest  is 
with  Satan,  as  well  as  with  the  world  and  the 
flesh,  and  we  wrestle  not  so  much  with  flesh 
and  blood  as  with  him.  If  we  suffer  ourselves 
to  become  his  captives,  in  spite  of  the  strong- 
hold in  which  Christ  has  placed   us,  and  the 


74     THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  WICKED. 

armor  which  he  has  given  us,  and  the  help 
which  he  has  promised  us,  then  our  own  must 
be  the  responsibility  for  the  consequences. 
There  is  but  one  place  in  the  wide  universe  for 
immortals,  who  have  become  hopelessly  sinful, 
and  though  the  prince  of  the  power  of  the  air 
is  "  the  king"  for  whom  it  was  originally  pre- 
pared, the  willing  subjects  of  such  a  tyrant 
must  share  his  kingdom  with  him.  There  is 
an  eternal  hell  for  the  fallen  angels,  who  never 
had  a  Saviour ;  why  not,  then,  for  men,  who, 
having  not  only  been  redeemed  from  death  by 
the  atoning  blood  of  God  manifest  in  the  flesh, 
but  also  endowed  with  an  eternal  inheritance 
at  the  right  hand  of  their  kinsman  Redeemer, 
have  sold  their  birthright  for  this  world's  pot- 
tage, and  "  crucified  the  Son  of  God  afresh,  and 
put  him  to  an  open  shame  ?" 

The  place  in  which  Dives  was  in  torment,  is 
a  place  of  intolerable  suffering ;  but  we  must 
reflect  that,  as  yet,  neither  fallen  angel  nor  lost 
son  of  Adam,  has  entered  the  unspeakable 
torments  of  Tophet.  If,  then,  the  place  of 
spirits  who  have  departed  hence  in  their  ini- 
quity be  such  as  the  story  of  Dives  gives  us 
to  understand,  what  may  we  not  imagine  con- 
cerning that  world,  in  which  soul  and  body  to- 
igether    are   consigned    to   everlasting   flame? 


THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  WICKED.     75 

And  if,  concerning  the  one,  we  are  told  that 
Moses  and  the  prophets  give  us  sufficient  warn- 
ing, surely  Christ  and  his  Grospel  should  suffice 
to  make  us  wise  in  time,  through  salutary  fear 
of  the  other.  At  all  events,  no  warning  will 
be  given,  other  than  that  which  the  Scriptures 
unfold,  which  the  Church  repeats,  and  which 
the  heralds  of  the  second  advent  proclaim, 
when  they  preach  the  Grospel.  If  a  lost  soul 
could  rise  from  the  dead,  and  tell  us  of  the 
misery  which  he  now  suffers,  and  from  which 
he  can  no  longer  escape,  but  which  he  knows 
must  be  worse  after  judgment — if  this  could 
be,  do  ye  think  that  men  would  repent  ?  Yet 
He  who  is  to  be  our  judge,  has  taught  us  that 
they  would  not,  if  they  do  not,  without  such  an 
interposition,  obey  the  Gospel.  In  a  word, 
**  they  have  Moses  and  the  prophets,  let  them 
hear  them." 

To  the  law,  then,  and  to  the  testimony,  let 
us  refer,  for  our  sufficient  witness,  "  lest  we  also 
come  into  that  place  of  torment."  Let  us  not 
shrink  from  a  serious  inquiry  as  to  that  world 
which  we  must  certainly  inhabit  forever,  if  we 
resolve  to  receive  our  good  things  in  this  life. 
Though  the  Holy  Scriptures  do  not  abound  in 
the  terrors  of  the  Lord,  so  much  as  they  do  in 
displays  of  his  saving  mercy,  they,  neverthe- 


76     THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  WICKED. 

less,  reveal  enough  to  make  us  horribly  afraid. 
The  torments  of  the  lost  are  described  as  both 
internal  and  external,  as  those  of  the  gnawing 
worm,  and  those  of  the  burning  fire;  within, 
remorse,  horror,  and  despair ;  without,  weeping, 
wailing,  and  gnashing  of  teeth.  Here  it  is  in- 
quired, indeed,  whether  the  worm  is  a  real 
worm,  or  the  flame  a  real  flame.  Alas  !  there 
is  no  comfort,  in  any  possible  reply,  which  we 
can  frame  from  reason,  or  from  the  word  of 
God.  Is  the  crown  of  glory  a  real  crown  ?  Is 
the  light  of  heaven  a  real  light?  Doubtless, 
all  that  we  call  light  on  earth  is  infinitely  tran- 
scended by  the  eff'ulgence  of  God's  presence ; 
and  what  paltry  trinkets  are  the  diadems  of 
the  Csesars,  compared  with  the  stars  that  shall 
shine  forever,  on  the  heads  of  the  children  of 
God  !  But  if  such  be  the  case  with  the  glories 
of  heaven,  as  compared  w4th  the  bright  things 
of  earth,  what  must  we  argue,  in  following  the 
analogy,  as  to  the  pains  of  hell  ?  Here,  we 
know  of  nothing  that  is  real ;  the  things  of 
this  world  are  only  symbols ;  mere  figures,  by 
which  God  gives  us  ideas  of  the  great  realities. 
As,  at  the  resurrection,  "  the  wise  shall  inherit 
glory,  so  shame  shall  be  the  promotion  of  fools ;" 
and  if  that  glory  is  such  as  surpasses  speech, 
let  us  not  doubt  that,  on  the  other  hand,  the 


THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  WICKED.     77 

shame  of  the  wicked  shall  arise,  in  part,  from 
a  perception  of  their  unutterable  folly  in  amus- 
ing themselves  while  on  earth,  with  an  under- 
estimate of  everlasting  burnings.  It  is  a  fiv- 
vorite  saying  with  some,  that  it  is  impossible 
that  material  fire  should  torment  an  immaterial 
spirit.  But  how  can  this  be  known,  consider- 
ing the  pain  which  even  now  we  constantly 
suJBfer  in  spirit,  from  our  material  bodies  ?  Our 
experience  is  against  their  rash  conclusion  ;  or, 
if  otherwise,  it  can  only  reduce  to  a  figurative 
description  the  fiery  pangs  of  the  soul  in  inter- 
mediate torment.  For  as  to  the  condemned  in 
Tophet,  they  shall  have  bodies,  as  well  as  souls ; 
the  corrupt  and  noisome  bodies  of  their  resur- 
rection to  everlasting  contempt ;  bodies,  of  eter- 
nal rottenness  and  worms,  concerning  which 
Christ  says,  "  Fear  Him  who  is  able  to  destroy 
both  soul  and  body  in  Gehenna." 

When  Holy  Scripture  informs  me,  then,  that 
Christ  is  coming  in  light  and  majesty,  I  believe 
it.  When  it  adds,  that  he  shall  be  ''  revealed 
in  flaming  fire,  taking  vengeance  on  them  that 
know  not  God,"  I  believe  that  too.  The  light, 
I  believe,  will  illuminate  gloriously  ;  the  flame, 
I  cannot  doubt,  will  burn  severely.  But,  what 
if  these  be  figures,  by  which  God  merely  inter- 
orets  to  us  things  beyond  conception  ?     Let  us 


78     THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  WICKED. 

admit  that,  in  some  degree,  they  are  so.  Yet, 
alas  !  I  see  in  even  this  no  consolation  for  the 
wicked.  These  figures  may  mean  more  than 
they  portray.  There  will  still  be  remorse,  like 
that  of  horrid  dreams,  but  more  intense,  to 
which  the  gnawings  of  a  worm  would  be  sooth- 
ing. There  will  still  be  misery,  to  which  the 
gnashing  of  teeth  could  add  no  further  pain ; 
there  will  still  be  consuming  pangs,  to  which 
fire  might  be  as  water.  What  does  it  help  my 
case,  if  I  be  among  those  who  hear  the  sen- 
tence, "  Depart,  ye  cursed  ?"  And  what  mad- 
ness it  is  for  me  to  stand  trifling  with  such 
questions,  as  to  fires  material  and  fires  figura- 
tive, when  I  have  to  do  with  a  God,  who  de- 
clares that  he  is  a  consuming  fire,  and  when  I 
hear  the  appeal  of  his  holy  apostle,  "And 
thinkest  thou,  O  man,  that  thou  shalt  escape 
the  judgment  of  God  ?"  Hear  him  further. 
"  But  after  thy  hardness,  and  impenitent  heart, 
treasurest  up,  unto  thyself,  wrath  against 
the  day  of  wrath,  and  revelation  of  the  right- 
eous judgment  of  God."  He  goes  on,  "  Who 
will  render  to  every  man  according  to  his  deeds, 
to  them  who,  by  patient  continuance  in  well- 
doing, seek  for  glory,  and  honour,  and  immor- 
tality, eternal  life ;  but  unto  them  that  are 
contentious,   and  do  not  obey  the  truth,  but 


THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  WICKED.     79 

obey  unrighteousness,  indignation  and  wrath, 
tribulation  and  anguish,  upon  every  soul  of 
man  that  doeth  evil,  of  the  Jew  first  and  also 
of  the  Gentile ;  for  there  is  no  respect  of  per- 
sons with  God." 

If  such  be  the  nature  of  the  punishment  of 
sin,  we  learn  that  as  to  its  duration,  it  is  ever- 
lasting. In  a  word,  perpetual  sinners  suffer  as 
long  as  they  sin.  Does  any  man  recoil  at  this 
thought  of  unending  retribution?  So  do  I. 
The  more  I  think  of  it,  the  more  I  am  con- 
founded by  the  thought.  It  makes  the  very 
devils  tremble.  They  tremble  because  they 
believe,  while  they  try  to  make  men  doubt. 
But  oh,  it  is  because  I  am  staggered  and  over- 
whelmed by  what  God  declares  on  this  subject, 
that  I  dare  not  trifle  with  what  He  says.  Sift- 
ing my  Bible  for  the  final  conclusions  of  a  be- 
liever on  this  matter ;  reading  it  over  and  over, 
with  the  aid  that  God  requires  us  to  use  in 
interpreting  His  word;  yea,  consulting  what 
scholars  have  speculated,  and  even  what  fools 
have  drivelled,  as  to  future  punishment,  it 
comes,  after  all,  to  this,  that  if  there  be  an 
eternal  heaven,  there  is  also  an  eternal  hell. 
There  it  stands,  in  the  text  and  elswhere,  so 
plain  that  he  that  runs  may  read.  Wlio  among 
vs  filuiU  dioell  with  everlasting  hurninga  ?  I 
7* 


80    THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  WICKED. 

know  that  ingenious  men  have  congratulated 
themselves  on  the  success  of  their  experiments 
with  these  and  other  like  words.  They  have 
cut  them  up  with  a  penknife,  like  king  Jehoia- 
kim,  and  have  "burned  the  roll,"  as  if  that  dis- 
posed of  the  threatenings  of  the  Most  High. 
But  if  these  speculators  can  brave  eternal  hell 
under  shelter  of  their  ingenuity,  I  confess  I  dare 
not  keep  them  company.  How  reads  the  Law  ? 
"  These  shall  go  away  into  everlasting  punish- 
ment." Now,  if  I  venture  to  defy  this  law, 
will  the  Judge  admit  the  plea  of  the  ingenious 
construction  I  give  to  such  plain  terms?  Do 
judges  deal  thus  with  culprits  in  human  courts? 
And  shall  I  presume  to  trifle  thus  with  a  law 
which  was  given  amid  the  thunders  of  Sinai  ? 
Do  I  not  see,  already,  that  its  violation  is  a 
fearful  thing,  and  has  filled  the  earth  with  mis- 
ery ?  Can  I  fail  to  draw  an  inference  from  the 
fact,  that  not  even  the  saints  of  God  can  be 
saved  at  a  less  price  than  that  of  the  atoning 
blood  of  the  Only-begotten  of  the  Father?  And 
when  I  reflect  on  the  agonies  of  Gethsemane, 
and  the  expiring  outcry  of  the  Redeemer,  am 
I  not  taught  that  the  sin  for  which  His  infinite 
merit  makes  no  effectual  atonement,  must  ex- 
act an  infinite  penalty  of  the  sinner  who 
chooses  to  take  his  own  deserts,  and  who  de- 


THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  WICKED.     81 

f^pises  mercy  ?  Look  at  the  Son  of  God,  and 
see  what  it  cost  him  to  redeem  your  soul.  Now, 
if  you  reject  that  vicarious  suffering,  with  its 
immensity  of  worth,  what  may  you  not  expect 
to  suffer  in  your  own  person,  both  as  a  sinner 
and  as  a  despiser  of  pardon  ?  "  If  such  things 
were  done  in  the  green  tree,  what  shall  be  done 
in  the  dry  ?'* 

Brethren,  "  let  no  man  deceive  you  with  vain 
words."  Let  not  your  own  flattering  hearts 
persuade  you  that  there  may  be  a  chance  of 
escape.  In  vain  do  men  file  and  pare  away  the 
rough  words  of  Scripture.  The  grub  is  not 
more  active  in  perforating  timber,  than  critics 
have  been  in  eating  out  the  threats  and  warn- 
ings of  the  Gospel ;  but  the  Bible  is  not  yet  re- 
duced to  such  a  honeycomb  as  they  count  sweet. 
Its  very  existence,  as  a  revelation,  implies  much 
which  they  would  gladly  deny ;  and  its  entire 
spirit  presupposes  the  severity  of  God,  as  well 
as  his  goodness.  There  can  be  no  faith  in 
Christ,  as  an  atoning  priest,  where  there  is  no 
fear  of  God  as  "a  consuming  fire  ;'*  and  he  that 
would  persuade  himself  that  there  is  no  hell, 
must  begin  by  saying,  "  There  is  no  God." 
There  was,  indeed,  an  old  critic,  who  taught 
men  to  believe  that  the  very  reverse  of  God's 
words,  is  what  they  really  mean ;  but  he  was 


82     THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  WICKED. 

a  liar,  as  well  as  "  a  murderer,  from  the  begin- 
ning," and  he  is  the  father  of  all  those  who  dare 
to  say  to  sinners,  "Ye  shall  not  surely  die." 

No,  then,  unless  the  just  can  be  despoiled  of 
their  hopes  of  glory,  by  similar  jugglery,  the 
wicked  must  accept  Christ,  or  assure  them- 
selves of  eternal  punishment.  I  call  your  at- 
tention to  the  confirmation  which  this  solemn 
conclusion  receives  from  the  unanimous  and 
uninterrupted  testimony  of  the  Church,  from 
the  apostolic  times  until  now.  It  is  impossible 
that  the  early  Church  should  have  been  mis- 
taken on  this  point.  She  knew  the  mind  of 
her  dear  Lord.  The  Spirit  led  her  into  all 
truth.  Yet  never  has  she  had  any  diversity  of 
doctrine  as  to  the  existence  of  Gehenna,  and 
its  eternal  torments.  In  the  words  of  the  Ath- 
anasian  hymn,  "  They  that  have  done  good 
shall  go  into  life  everlasting,  and  they  that  have 
done  evil  into  everlasting  fire.  This  is  the 
Catholic  faith,  which  except  a  man  believe 
faithfully,  he  cannot  be  saved."  Yes,  even 
now,  there  is  no  difference  in  Apostolic  Chris- 
tendom, upon  this  great  matter,  divided  as  we 
are  on  so  many  other  things.  The  doctrine  is 
confessed,  in  the  words  I  have  quoted,  by  An- 
glicans as  well  as  by  Romans,  and  in  substance 
it  is  received  by  us,  and  by  the  Greeks.     Why 


THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  WICKED.     83 

this  universal  concurrence  in  a  tenet  which  hu- 
man nature  would  gladly  disallow  ?  Our  feel- 
ings recoil  from  the  horrible  idea,  and  sometimes 
threaten  to  shake  our  faith.  But  so  apostles 
preached,  so,  therefore,  we  believe.  Against 
such  testimony  as  this ;  in  spite  of  Scripture, 
witnessed  by  the  Church,  in  terms  so  plain;  how 
daring  is  the  man  who,  on  the  thread  of  his 
own  private  speculation,  can  suspend  his  im- 
mortal soul  over  a  lake  of  everlasting  fire  ! 

Some,  indeed,  have  amused  themselves  with 
fancies  as  to  a  final  restoration.  But  this  is  an 
absurdity  which  not  only  lacks  a  single  ray  of 
countenance  from  Scripture,  but  which  reason 
must  laugh  to  scorn.  Are  the  fires  of  hell  ca- 
pable of  satisfying  God  for  sins  for  which  the 
sweet  savour  of  the  merits  of  Christ  has  as- 
cended all  in  vain  ?  Or  is  hell  a  school  of  re- 
form ?  May  one  expect  to  grow  fit  for  heaven 
in  the  company  of  devils  ?  One  who  grows  hard- 
er and  harder  of  heart,  here  amid  all  the  means 
of  grace,  where  Jesus  invites,  and  the  Bride 
says  come,  and  the  Spirit  pleads  ?  And  shall 
Tophet  thus  effect  what  the  Church  of  Christ 
could  not?  Shall  the  curses  and  blasphemies 
of  the  damned  prove  a  better  gospel  than  that 
of  evangelists  and  apostles  ?  Alas !  is  it  not 
written  that  after  a  certain  hour,  "  the  door  is 


84     THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  WICKED. 

shut  ?"  The  Mediator's  work  closes  with  the 
judgment;  who  then  shall  intercede?  The 
Spirit  strives  no  more  with  men ;  who  shall 
sanctify  lost  souls  ?  He  that  hath  the  keys  of 
David  hath  shut,  and  who  shall  open  ?  Who 
shall  reverse  his  terrible  decree — "  he  that  is 
filthy  let  him  be  filthy  still  ?"  It  is  startling 
indeed  to  reflect  that  such  words  can  be  pro- 
nounced by  our  compassionate  Redeemer,  and 
yet  who  can  deny  that  they  are  entirely  con- 
sistent with  his  whole  manifestation  of  himself 
while  here  on  earth  ?  How  often  did  the  meek 
and  lowly  Saviour  give  us  intimations  of  the 
righteous  indignation,  with  which  he  shall 
finally  appear  as  the  judge  of  those  who  reject 
his  atonement !  It  was  the  same  Jesus  who 
wept  over  Jerusalem,  and  said,  "  How  often 
would  I  have  gathered  you,"  that  said,  never- 
theless, to  the  same  people,  "  Ye  serpents,  ye 
generation  of  vipers,  how  can  ye  escape  the 
damnation  of  hell!" 

True,  indeed,  '^  one  star  differeth  from  anoth- 
er star  in  glory,"  and  'tis  but  reason  to  infer 
that  there  shall  be  degrees  of  punishment  in 
the  abode  of  the  lost.  They  that  knew  but 
little  shall  have  the  fewer  stripes.  It  shall  be 
"  more  tolerable"  for  Tyre  and  Sidon  than  for 
Capernaum.     But  why  should  this  melancholy 


THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  WICKED.     85 

abatement  reconcile  any  one  who  can  repent, 
to  anything  short  of  salvation  ?  I  speak  now 
to  that  most  difficult  of  all  characters  to  deal 
with,  the  man  that  flatters  himself  that  though 
he  is  not  perhaps  good  enough  for  heaven,  he 
is  surely  not  quite  bad  enough  for  hell.  Oh ! 
how  little  that  man  knows  his  own  corrupt,  re- 
bellious, and  deceitful  heart.  Has  he  never 
read  of  the  servant  from  whom  in  judgment 
shall  be  taken  even  that  which  "  he  seemeth  to 
have  ?'*  And  what  is  that  ?  Morality,  without 
godliness ;  a  mere  outside  !  To  what  does  it 
amount?  Take  away  the  influences  of  social 
life ;  those  secondary  blessings  of  Christian  civili- 
zation, its  restraints,  and  decencies,  and  what 
remains  ?  Morality,  indeed !  What  is  it  but 
a  clever  counterfeit,  all  the  worse  for  its  close 
resemblance  to  what  is  sterling?  And  then 
what  an  abuse  of  the  means  of  grace,  when  a 
man  steals  from  Scripture  and  the  Church  a 
rule  of  outward  propriety,  of  which  he  takes 
the  whole  credit  to  himself!  It  is  indeed  a 
merit  which  he  seems  to  have,  but  that  is  all. 
The  Spirit  of  God  once  withdrawn,  and  con- 
science thus  extinguished — behold  the  misera- 
ble wretch  that  is  left.  Then  indeed  sin  re- 
vives, and  he  dies  of  the  disease  which  he 
would  not  believe  was  working  within  him,  so 


86  THE   PUlflSUMENT   OF   THE   WICKED. 

long  as  his  countenance  was  fair.  The  unre- 
newed heart,  believe  it,  is  desperately  wicked. 
So  long  as  there  is  no  love  of  Christ  in  the  soul, 
the  man  is  a  leper,  let  him  seem  what  he  may. 
You  have  read  of  some  daring  felon,  or  of  some 
polluted  woman.  She  whose  person  is  so  loath- 
some to-day,  and  whose  fall  from  the  purity  of 
her  sex  is  so  unutterably  horrible,  but  yester- 
day was  a  maiden,  in  her  guilelessness,  unable 
to  conceive  as  possible,  that  shame  which  is 
now  her  unalterable  portion.  The  pirate,  too, 
whose  very  name  sounds  like  that  of  a  fiend,  was 
only  a  few  short  years  ago  a  babe  on  his  moth- 
er's bosom,  drawing  the  sweet  nurture  of  inno- 
cence, and  fondled  with  delight  in  the  arms  of 
love.  What  is  virtue,  what  is  innocence,  what 
is  character,  that  has  not  the  Redeemer  for  its 
strength  ?  How  long  does  it  take  the  human 
heart,  when  the  Spirit  is  grieved  away,  to  show 
out  its  hideousness  and  its  corruption?  He 
who  knows  the  pharisee  so  much  better  than 
he  knows  himself,  ha^  pronounced  his  morality 
a  whited  sepulchre,  and  assigns  him  a  place 
with  those  who  took  no  oil  in  their  vessels 
with  their  lamps.  And  where  were  they  when 
their  lamps  had  gone  out  ? 

In  view  of  this  stripping  of  the  mere  moral- 
ist, I  look  in  vain  for  anything  that  can  minis- 


THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  WICKED.     87 

ter  hope,  to  on6  who  would  not  be  eternally 
lost,  short  of  "the  broken  and  the  contrite 
heart."  And  if  the  goodness  that  leadeth  thee 
to  repentance  be,  all  thy  life-time,  despised, 
pray  who  is  it  that  condemns  thee  ?  Is  it  God, 
or  is  it  thyself?  How  few  understand  their 
probable  account  with  God  !  How  few  think 
of  their  responsibility  for  the  means  of  grace  ! 
Many  a  man  is  far  more  guilty  than  thousands 
whom  he  considers  the  wicked.  They,  indeed, 
are  hardened  in  sin ;  but  oh,  how  little  have 
they  sinned  against  privileges,  and  light,  and 
mercy ;  and  how  little  guilty  they  may  be  in 
the  sight  of  God  !  But  here  is  one  who,  in 
spite  of  all  that  God  could  do  for  him,  has  lived 
all  his  life-time,  doing  little  for  his  fellow-men, 
and  for  God,  nothing  at  all.  Granted  he  was  a 
good  citizen,  friend,  father,  and  the  like — but 
these  were  his  relations  with  men,  and  he  had 
his  reward.  Had  he  no  relations  to  a  God  who 
created  him,  who  fed  him  with  good  things  all 
his  life  long,  and  gave  him  time  and  occasion 
for  repentance  ?  Had  he  no  relations  to  a  Sa- 
viour, who  died  for  him  ?  None  to  a  Spirit, 
that  strove  with  his  conscience  daily,  till  he 
was  grieved  away  ?  And  yet  what  has  he  ever 
done,  in  honor  of  these  relations  ?  He  wearied 
God  all  his  life  long,  with  a  sturdy  refusal  to 


88     THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  WICKED. 

repent  and  obey,  and  be  a  Christian.  He  was 
blest  in  basket  and  in  store,  and  he  grew  proud 
and  self-satisfied.  He  was  made  sick,  and  he 
murmured  ;  he  was  restored  again,  but  he  gave 
no  thanks,  or  his  thanks  were  only  words.  He 
heard  sermons,  and  steeled  his  conscience 
against  them ;  he  read  the  Scriptures,  but  al- 
ways closed  the  book,  saying,  "  Go  thy  way  for 
this  time."  And  as  he  lived,  so  he  died — a 
stubborn  refuser  of  the  blood  of  sprinkling. 
Does  this  man's  case  call  for  fewer  stripes,  than 
that  of  the  poor  wretch  who  was  tempted  to  be 
a  thief,  or  a  murderer,  because,  perhaps,  he  ne- 
ver ate  a  comfortable  meal  ?  Believe  it,  breth- 
ren, among  unrepenting  sinners,  there  is  not  so 
vast  a  difference  as  men  suppose.  He  who 
sees  the  heart,  and  accepts  no  man's  person, 
judges  very  differently  from  men  ;  and  I  trem- 
ble to  look  around  me,  when  I  think  that  it 
was  to  respectable  men,  to  men  of  standing  and 
of  reputation,  that  Jesus  said,  "  The  publicans 
and  harlots  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven  be- 
fore you." 

Beware,  then,  how  you  listen  to  those  who 
cry.  Peace,  peace,  when  there  is  no  peace ;  who 
would  beguile  you,  with  some  subtilty,  to  be- 
lieve that  the  way  to  life  is  not  narrow,  nor  its 
gate  strait;  or  who  would  even  persuade  you 


THE  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  WICKED.     89 

that  Judas  and  St.  Paul  inherit  the  same  eternal 
glory ;  or  that  the  same  paradise  received  the 

thief  who  repented,  and  the  other  who  died 
blaspheming  Jesus,  and  gnashing  upon  him 
with  his  teeth.  Oh,  wherefore  is  it  that  men 
can  be  persuaded  to  believe  anything,  except 
only  that  '*  now  is  the  accepted  time  ;  that  now 
is  the  day  of  salvation  ?"  Here  is  the  true  re- 
source. As  a  faithful  servant  of  Christ,  I  can- 
not pretend  that  there  is  no  danger ;  but  I  can 
bring  you  glad  tidings,  in  preaching  a  crucifieil 
Saviour,  and  in  showing  you  how  you  may  flee 
from  the  wTath  to  come.  The  thought  that 
any  one  who  now  hears  me  may  be  lost  eter- 
nally, is  horrible  indeed.  But  why  should  it 
be  so,  when,  even  now,  he  is  offered  free  salva- 
tion ?  ^'  Before  the  gates  of  Gehenna,"  says  St. 
Augustine,  "  sits  the  divine  Mercy ;  none  that 
seek  unto  her  does  she  suffer  to  enter  there." 
We  are  preparing  to  rejoice  in  a  Saviour's 
birth  ;  to  exult  in  Him  of  whom  it  is  written, 
"  Mercy  and  Truth  are  met  together.  Righte- 
ousness and  Peace  have  kissed  each  other." 
Believe  it,  it  is  not  so  much  for  having  despised 
Moses'  law,  as  for  having  rejected  Christ's  Gos- 
pel, that  Vengeance  will  claim  its  own  at  the 
last.  Prepare  your  hearts,  then,  I  beseech  you, 
to  stand  before  the  Son  of  Man.     He  comes  to 


90  THE   PUNISHMENT   OF   THE   WICKED. 

a  world  of  sinners,  that  he  may  save  them.  If 
he  saves  not  you,  your  own  will  be  the  ftiult ; 
for  "  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his 
only-begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in 
him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting 
life." 


SERMON    V. 


THE  REWARDS  OF   THE  RIGHTEOUS. 


FOURTH  SUNDAY  IN  ADVENT. 


SiNCK  THK  BKQINNINO  OF  THE  WOBLD  HEN  HAVE  NOT  HEARD,  NOB 
PERCEIVED  BY  THE  EAR,  NEITHER  HATH  THE  EYE  SEEN,  OH 
GOD,    BESIDE    THEE,  WHAT    He    HATH    PREPARED   TOR    HIM    THAT 

w AiTXTH  TOR  HiM. — Isaiah,  Ixiv.  4. 

The  subjects  on  which  I  have  spoken  to  you 
during  the  former  Sundays  in  Advent,  have 
been  such  as  it  has  been  painful  to  discuss,  and 
perhaps  you  have  heard  me  with  impatience. 
"  Knowing  the  terrors  of  the  Lord,"  we  must 
nevertheless,  endeavour  "to  persuade  men," 
and  that  whether  they  will  hear,  or  will  for- 
bear. But  I  come  now  to  a  theme,  co-relative, 
yet  widely  diflferent ;  upon  which,  though  it 
be,  indeed,  too  high  for  me,  it  is  delightful 
to  think,  and  of  which  I  count  it  one  of  my 
dearest  privileges  to  speak.  Whether  it  will 
be  profitable  to  your  souls,  however,  depends 
8»  ( 91 ) 


92  THE  REWARDS  OF  THE   RIGHTEOUS. 

under  God,  upon  yourselves  alone.  It  certainly 
will  do  no  good,  if  it  be  heard  in  a  spirit  of  re- 
bellion against  those  sterner  truths  with  which 
it  is  connected.  The  punishment  of  the  wicked 
is,  in  all  respects,  as  certain,  as  are  the  rewards 
of  the  just.  Oh!  that  I  might  turn  many  to 
to  righteousness,  by  exhibiting,  in  due  propor- 
tions, the  justice  and  the  mercy  of  God  !  Oh! 
that  in  speaking  of  heaven,  I  might  borrow 
something  from  the  spirit  of  the  approaching 
feast ;  something  from  that  song  of  the  angels 
which  brought  heaven  down  to  earth,  in  the 
strain  of  "peace  on  earth,  and  good- will  to 
men." 

The  kingdom  of  heaven  was  said  to  be  at 
hand,  when  the  Baptist  proclaimed  the  incar- 
nation of  the  Son  of  God.  In  a  word,  the  court 
of  heaven  was  about  to  appear,  in  the  person 
of  the  king  himself.  It  is  the  presence  of  the 
sovereign  that  makes  the  court,  and,  in  a 
sense,  the  kingdom.  Under  the  Law,  there  had 
been  a  mere  viceroyalty.  The  Jewish  Church 
possessed  only  shadows  of  heavenly  things; 
patterns  of  things  eternal ;  figures  of  the  true. 
So  St.  Paul  describes  them.  But  now,  in 
Christ,  all  heaven  was  coming  to  this  lower 
world.  The  Gospel  was  to  perpetuate  the 
substance  of  the  kingdom,  among  men.     The 


THE   REWARDS  OF   THE  RIGHTEOUS.  93 

bounds  of  the  heavenly  empire  were  to  be  en- 
larged, so  as  to  include  the  communion  of 
saints,  in  the  militant  state ;  and  thus  Christ's 
kingdom  was  to  invade  the  territory  of  Satan, 
and  to  push  its  conquests,  till  the  end  of  time, 
into  the  realms  of  sin  and  death. 

Ever  since  the  incarnation,  Christ,  by 
His  Spirit,  has  been  present  in  His  Church,  as 
His  Church  has  been  present  and  visible,  in 
the  world.  So  we  find  the  Church  often 
spoken  of,  in  Scripture,  as  the  kingdom  of 
heaven;  because  it  is  that  kingdom,  in  the 
earth.  The  militant  Church  is,  indeed,  an 
outlying  territory,  and  grievously  beset  by 
foes,  and  infested  by  traitors ;  and  yet  it  is  the 
kingdom,  because  the  king  dwells  in  it,  and 
governs  it,  and  enlarges  it,  and  defends  it 
against  the  gates  of  hell.  Moreover,  it  is 
closely  joined  to  the  great  seat  of  empire  above ; 
for  "  God  is  in  the  midst  of  her ;"  and  through 
her  broad  domain,  flows  that  same  "  river,  the 
streams  whereof  make  glad  the  city  of  God, 
the  holy  place  of  the  tabernacle  of  the  Most 
High." 

But  then,  there  is  a  "  land  which  is  very 
far  ofi",'*  where  they  ^'  behold  the  king  in  his 
beauty."  The  capital  of  the  kingdom  is  there. 
There  is  the  metropolis,  and  there  the  court 


94  THE   REWARDS  OF  THE  RIGHTEOUS. 

resides.  We  are  in  the  empire,  even  here. 
No  more  strangers  and  foreigners,  we  are 
recognized  as  fellow-citizens,  and  children,  and 
heirs ;  but  whether  we  shall  ever  reach  that 
mother  city,  and  make  our  calling  eternally 
sure,  is  the  question  which  our  lives  are  deci- 
ding. One  may  be  in  a  great  empire,  and  yet 
know  little  of  its  palaces.  One  may  even  be  a 
great  king's  son,  and  yet  be  living  remote  from 
his  father,  under  tutors  and  governors,  and 
dififering  nothing  from  a  servant,  though  he 
be  lord  of  all.  But  when  at  length,  this  heir 
of  royalty  is  brought  to  court,  to  what  is  he 
not  introduced  ?  There  is  the  palace  and  its 
gardens ;  there  are  its  many  mansions ;  there 
are  halls  that  glisten  with  marbles  and  with 
gold ;  and  long  galleries  resplendent  with  sculp- 
ture and  pictures.  There  is  the  gallantry  of  com- 
pany, and  the  bravery  of  apparel ;  there  is  the 
harmony  of  music,  and  the  pomp  of  feasts 
and  pageants;  and  above  all,  there  is  the 
majesty  of  the  sovereign,  the.  soul  and  centre, 
about  which  all  this  beauty  and  magnificence 
revolve,  like  planets  around  the  sun.  But  this 
is  all  vanity.  It  is  poor,  even  as  an  illustra- 
tion of  that  which  the  humblest  child  of  God 
is  heir  to,  and  which  he  may,  if  he  will,  secure. 
It  may  help  us,  however,  to  understand  what 


THE    REWARDS  OF   THE  RIGHTEOUS.  95 

St.  Paul  says  of  our  condition  in  the  militant 
Church  :  "  Ourselves  also  which  have  the  first- 
fruits  of  the  Spirit,  even  we  ourselves,  groan 
within  ourselves,  waiting  for  the  adoption,  to 
wit,  the  redemption  of  our  body."  Here  he 
asserts,  that  whenever  we  are  recalled  from 
Hades,  and  clothed  with  our  new  bodies  in  the 
resurrection,  then  shall  come  the  investiture ; 
then  we  shall  enter  upon  our  inheritance ;  then 
the  King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords  shall 
manifest  us  to  the  whole  universe,  as  indeed, 
bis  children,  and  joint-heirs,  with  Christ,  of 
the  kingdom  and  the  glory. 

So  then  the  Apostle  adds,  "  The  earnest  ex- 
pectation of  the  creature  waiteth  for  the  mani- 
festation of  the  sons  of  God."  While  in  this 
state  of  discipline  and  hope,  the  heir  of  God  is 
not  manifested  but  hidden.  He  is  perhaps 
meanly  lodged  and  clothed ;  he  is  made  to  en- 
dure hardships ;  he  is  drilled  and  tasked ;  he  is 
punished  for  his  faults;  and  very  often,  he 
sends  complaints  to  his  royal  father,  of  the 
sorrows  and  sufferings  of  his  pupilage.  But  his 
Father  in  heaven  assures  him  that  it  is  good  for 
him,  and  bids  him  be  comforted  by  the  thought 
that  thus  one  becomes  fit  for  a  crown,  and  is 
the  better  prepared  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  a 
court.     At  last,  after  long  expectation,  comes 


96  THE  REWARDS  OF   THE   RIGHTEOUS. 

the  day  of  "  the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of 
God."  The  king  shall  sit  upon  his  throne 
amid  ten  thousand  angels.  Then  shall  the 
children  of  the  kingdom  shine  in  all  the  splen- 
dor of  the  resurrection,  and  be  welcomed  to 
the  eternal  presence  of  the  Godhead,  and  to 
the  right  hand  of  Christ,  where  there  are  plea- 
sures forevermore. 

Thus  will  be  fulfilled  that  promise  of  Christ, 
"Fear  not  little  flock,  for  it  is  your  father's 
good  pleasure  to  give  you  the  kingdom."  The 
kingdom,  even  here  on  earth,  is  to  be  given  to 
the  saints;  it  is  coming  to  heathen  lands,  and 
is  yet  to  embrace  all  the  kingdoms  of  the 
world.  The  same  kingdom  includes  those  seats 
of  joy  and  felicity  in  paradise,  where  the  souls 
of  the  faithful  enjoy  the  vision  of  God,  and 
wait,  with  us,  the  redemption  of  their  bodies. 
But,  in  that  day,  the  heavens  and  the  earth 
will  have  passed  away,  and  Hades  shall  have 
been  made  empty.  The  kingdom  of  heaven, 
to  which  the  righteous  shall  then  be  admitted, 
will  be  the  heaven  of  heavens;  the  place 
where  the  glorious  Trinity  is  beheld  unveiled ; 
the  heavenly  Jerusalem,  which  the  glory  of 
the  Lord  doth  lighten,  and  the  Lamb  is  the 
light  thereof.  This  is  that  place  of  many  man- 
sions, which  our  blessed  Saviour  is  now  pre- 


THE   REWARDS  OF   THE   RIGHTEOUS.  97 

paring  for  his  little  flock.  As  yet,  one  man 
only  is  there — the  man  Christ  Jesus :  and  he 
has  promised  to  come  again  to  receive  us  unto 
himself,  that  where  he  is  we  may  be  also. 

This  was  the  promise  which  our  Lord  seems 
to  have  desired  to  guard  against  all  misappre- 
hension, when,  upon  his  reappearance  after  the 
resurrection,  he  said  to  Magdalene,  "  I  am  not 
yet  ascended  to  my  Father" — adding  the  mes- 
sage to  the  Apostles,  that  he  was  now  about  to 
go  into  heaven :  "  I  ascend  unto  my  Father  and 
your  Father,  and  to  my  God  and  your  God." 
In  his  Godhead  he  had  never  been  absent  from 
heaven;  but  his  human  nature  was  not  yet 
exalted  to  the  throne.  No  man  had  ever  yet 
ascended  into  the  heavens:  Enoch  and  Elijah 
had  undergone  some  change,  unknown  to  us, 
and  had  been  admitted  to  heavenly  places;  but 
now  the  Son  of  Man  was  to  enter  the  heaven 
of  heavens,  and  humanity  in  him  was  to  be 
exalted  above  angels,  and  crowned  with  glory 
and  honor,  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Majesty 
on  high.  There  he  sits,  at  this  moment,  in  all 
his  glory,  our  elder  brother,  and  our  God  :  bone 
of  our  bone,  and  flesh  of  our  flesh,  and  yet  our 
Maker  and  our  Saviour.  He  is  not  ashamed 
to  call  us  brethren ;  and  as  our  kinsman  Re- 
deemer is  there  already,  we  have  the  pledge 


98  THE   REWARDS  OF  THE  RIGHTEOUS. 

of  our  inheritance  in  the  fact  of  the  ascension. 
There,  Jesus  is  "  for  us  entered ;"  and  he  has 
promised  that  where  he  is,  we  shall  be  also. 
Oh!  surpassing  joy  of  the  believer!  Who  that 
hopes  for  such  things,  but  must  exclaim  with 
the  Apostle,  "  I  reckon  that  the  sufferings  of 
this  present  world  are  not  worthy  to  be  com- 
pared with  the  glory  that  shall  be  revealed  in 
us!" 

The  final  abode  of  the  righteous,  then,  is 
that  place  of  many  mansions  which  Christ  is 
now  preparing,  though  in  another  sense  it 
was  prepared  for  the  sons  of  God,  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world.  When  angels  fell, 
then  were  their  places  left  for  men  to  inherit : 
but  along  process  of  preparation  was  necessary 
before  they  should  be  entered  upon.  Creation 
first,  with  subsequent  sin  and  ruin;  redemp- 
tion and  regeneration  afterward;  and  ^'ihe 
purifying  of  the  heavenly  things  themselves" 
with  the  blood  of  sprinkling,  and  the  pre- 
sence of  the  great  High -priest.  If,  then,  we  ask 
where  heaven  is,  we  must  answer,  there,  where 
Christ  is  now,  making  intercession  for  us,  within 
the  veil.  When  we  look  up  at  the  visible  hea- 
vens, which  Scripture  so  often  makes  to  us  the 
symbol  of  a  more  excellent  glory,  we  cannot  but 
feel  as  if  our  inheritance  were  there.  The  Scrip- 


THE   REWARDS  OF   THE   RIGHTEOUS.  99 

tures  speak  of  the  ascension,  as  a  taking  up :  and 
the  Apostles  saw  their  Lord  mounting  into  the 
skies,  till  a  cloud  received  him  out  of  their 
sight.  Now  we  know  that  upward,  when  used 
with  reference  to  our  earth,  means,  simply,  away 
from  its  centre,  in  whatever  direction.  The 
expanse  of  the  air,  then,  is  one  heaven :  and 
the  starry  worlds  are  another ;  and  beyond  all 
these  our  Saviour  passed,  bodily,  into  the  third 
heaven,  or  the  heaven  of  heavens,  where  the 
angels  are,  and  where  is  the  visible  presence 
of  Jehovah.  More  than  this,  as  to  place,  we 
cannot  know :  but  the  Apostle  speaks  of  it  as 
"  high  above  all  height  f  and  thither,  if  Christ 
is  our  chief  treasure,  our  hearts  will  ascend, 
even  while  we  are  pilgrims  upon  earth,  and  there 
w^ith  Him,  in  spirit,  we  shall  continually  dwell. 
When  Christ  shall  invite  us,  at  last,  to  enter 
that  eternal  inheritance,  it  shall  be  with  a 
welcome  to  "  the  joy  of  our  Lord."  Even  now, 
as  one  has  remarked,  a  little  of  heavenly  joy 
may  enter  us :  but  then,  it  shall  be  our  enter- 
ing of  it.  But  as  we  are  exhorted  to  set  our 
affections  on  things  above,  we  may  lawfully 
inquire,  what  that  joy  of  heaven  shall  be.  Nor 
shall  we  long  wait  for  an  answer,  if  we  search 
the  Scriptures.  True  indeed,  eye  hath  not  seeti, 
nor  ear  heard)  but  then,  all  that  speech  can 
9 


100        THE  REWARDS  OF   THE   RIGHTEOUS. 

tell,  and  all  that  it  is  good  for  us  to  know,  is 
revealed  to  us,  in  the  Word  of  God,  and  it  is 
blessed  to  comfort  one  another  with  such 
words.  For  example,  though  we  possess  so 
little  of  joy,  in  this  vale  of  tears,  that  our  vo- 
cabulary of  bliss  is  a  meagre  store-house  for 
terms  descriptive  of  the  joys  of  angels,  it  has 
pleased  God,  in  condescending  to  our  infirmities, 
to  tell  us  much  in  negatives.  We  must  wait 
for  our  glorified  souls  and  bodies  to  know, 
positively,  of  what  their  new  powers  and 
faculties  may  be  capable :  but  we  know  how 
much  we  suffer,  in  our  present  bodies,  while 
we  wait  for  the  adoption.  So  then,  God  has 
told  us  there  shall  be  no  more  hunger,  nor 
tears :  "  and  there  shall  be  no  more  death : 
neither  sorrow,  nor  crying ;  neither  shall  there 
be  any  more  pain."  Who  that  has  ever  suf- 
fered such  things ;  who  that  has  seen  sweet 
children  suffer,  or  beloved,  gentle  friends,  long 
and  patiently,  day  after  day,  hour  after  hour ; 
who  that  has  watched  by  dying  beds,  can  recall 
such  a  promise,  without  a  panting  after  heaven ; 
a  longing  to  see  God  ;  a  desire  to  depart,  and 
be  with  Christ  ?  Refreshing  foretaste  of  heaven 
itself,  in  this  world  of  sorrow,  to  know  that 
there  is  a  world  "where  there  is  no  more 
death,  no  more  pain !" 


THE   REWARDS   OF   THE   RIGHTEOUS.        101 

But  it  is  not  only  a  negative  idea  of  heaven 
with  which  Scripture  indulges  us.  We  have 
many  precious  promises  which  we  can,  in  some 
measure,  comprehend.  We  are  assured,  for  ex- 
ample, that  heaven  will  be  within  us,  as  well 
as  in  all  about  us.  We  are  to  have  bodies 
made  like  unto  the  body  of  Christ's  glory.  Our 
spirits  are  to  be  made  perfect ;  we  are  to  be 
"  equal  to  the  angels."  As  in  Eden,  before  the 
fall,  the  powers  and  faculties  of  the  first  man 
were  suited  to  the  surpassing  delightfulness  of 
that  ])lest  abode ;  so  our  new  powers  will  be  in- 
finitely exalted,  to  be  in  harmony  with  heaven. 
Fearfully  are  we  beggared  by  our  first  father's 
sin !  We  are  stripped  of  the  noblest  properties 
that  belonged  to  humanity,  as  God  created  it,  in 
his  own  likeness.  But  infinitely  are  we  to  be  en- 
riched, in  the  second  Adam,  above  all  that  we 
should  have  been,  had  we  never  fallen.  It  may 
be  doubted  whether,  in  our  present  state  of  sin 
and  misery,  we  are  not  lower  in  the  scale  of 
intelligence,  as  compared  with  Gabriel,  than  a 
newborn  babe  is,  as  compared  with  a  Newton : 
yet,  to  be  equal  with  Gabriel  himself  shall  be 
the  lot  of  redeemed  humanity.  Since  God  has 
passed  by  angels,  and  identified  himself  with 
men,  by  taking  manhood  into  God,  he  has  com- 
mensurately  changed  the  relative  positions  of 


102        THE   KE WARDS   OF   THE   RIGHTEOUS. 

human  and  angelic  natures,  and  hereafter, 
angels  are  to  be  made  a  little  lower  than  re- 
deemed saints,  in  their  inheritance  of  light. 
Oh  miracle  of  redeeming  grace,  that  because 
we  hare  been  much  forgiven,  we  shall  love 
more  than  they  that  never  sinned!  The 
blessed  angels  cannot  celebrate,  as  we  shall,  in- 
stinctively, the  wonders  of  redemption.  Only 
they  who  have  come  out  of  great  tribulation, 
shall  know  the  full  rapture  of  that  eternal  rest. 
Who  but  they  who  have  been  mortal,  can  fully 
appreciate  immortality?  Who,  but  they,  to 
whom  the  name  of  Jesus  has  been  "  balsam  in 
the  heart,"  shall  enjoy  its  fragrance  supremely 
as  "  ointment  poured  forth,"  or  know  it  most 
ravishingly  as  "music  in  the  ear,  and  honey  to 
the  tongue!" 

Wonder  not,  then,  at  the  testimony  of  Isaiah, 
in  the  text,  endorsed  and  repeated  as  it  is  by 
the  glorious  Apostle  St.  Paul.  To  know  more, 
we  must  wait  for  angelic  powers.  All  is  re- 
vealed that  we  can  comprehend  with  our 
present  faculties.  God  has  revealed  to  faith,  a 
few  of  those  incomprehensible  mysteries,  which 
it  concerns  us  to  know,  and  how  do  men  re- 
ceive them  ?  How  many  stumble  because  of 
them,  and  murmur  when  their  finite  minds 
attempt  to  explore   the   Infinite !     Heavenly 


THE   REWARDS   OF  THE   RIGHTEOUS.        103 

things  are  necessarily  too  high  for  us.  The 
language  of  mortal  tongues  staggers  and  fails, 
when  the  glorious  things  of  God  become  its 
unwonted  burthen.  Even  worship,  when  it  is 
becoming,  does  no  more  than  echo  back  to 
heaven,  its  own  Gloria  in  Excelsis,  When  our 
faith  would  confess  to  GrOD  it  borrows  God's 
own  strength.  What  are  the  Creeds,  but  the 
Scriptures  ?  What  is  Te  Deum  but  the  well- 
marshaled  words  of  inspiration?  What  the 
Trisagion,  but  the  anthem  of  angels ;  language 
suffused  with  heaven  ?  So  then,  for  want  of 
power  to  receive  them,  the  things  prepared  for 
men,  have  never  yet  entered  the  heart  of  man  : 
we  cannot  conceive  what  they  are,  or  if  we 
could,  it  would  be  heaven  itself,  to  which  flesh 
and  blood  can  have  no  claim.  When  we  are 
made  equal  to  the  angels,  then  may  we  know 
the  joys  of  angels.  But,  till  then,  who  shall 
paint  colours  for  the  blind,  or  describe  music 
to  the  deaf?  If  we  should  attempt  to  convey 
ideas  of  the  rainbow  to  a  worm,  or  of  the 
melody  of  the  human  voice  to  an  adder,  we 
should  probably  be  as  successful  as  our  guardian 
angels  would  be,  should  they,  at  any  time,  en- 
deavour to  unfold  to  us,  the  joys  in  which 
they  perpetually  exult,  or  the  glories  of  that 
inner  heaven,  in  which  they  behold  the  Father, 
9» 


104        THE   REWARDS   OF   THE   RIGHTEOUS. 

and,  compared  with  which,  the  ghttering  fir- 
mament is  darkness,  and  the  sun  itself  a  cloud. 
In  the  gorgeous  imagery  of  the  Apocalypse, 
we  are  indeed  presented  with  such  conceptions 
of  the  New  Jerusalem,  as  our  feeble  powers, 
and  scant  store  of  figures,  enable  us  to  appre- 
preciate.  But  what  mean  those  gates  of  pearls, 
and  streets  of  gold,  and  harpers  harping  with 
their  harps ;  those  vials  full  of  odours,  and  palms 
in  their  hands;  those  rivers  of  crystal,  and  trees 
of  life,  and  all  that  varied  scenery  of  the  land 
of  Beulah?  Are  these  things  real?  "There 
is,"  says  St.  Paul,  "  a  spiritual  body :"  is  that 
real?  Is  not  flesh  vanity,  and  the  spirit  the 
only  substance  ?  So  then  the  glorious  things 
of  earth  are  but  patterns,  shadows,  figures  of 
the  true.  In  heaven  are  realities,  and  here 
the  poor,  faint  symbols  whereby  God  afibrds 
us  notions  of  things  unseen,  and  eternal.  There, 
are  pearls  and  gold ;  here,  there  are  but  emblems 
in  sordid  matter,  to  which  we  give  the  names. 
There,  are  immortal  flowers,  and  here,  their 
fading  tokens.  There,  are  harps  and  viols,  and 
here,  are  wretched  imitations  of  those  celestial 
instruments.  There,  is  the  harmony  of  voices, 
and  here,  is  only  the  straining  of  fleshy  organs, 
to  realize  something  of  their  sound.  There,  in 
short,  are  rivers  and  trees,  and   gardens   of 


THE   REWARDS   OF   THE   RIGHTEOUS.        105 

which  Eden  was  but  a  miniature ;  while  all 
that  we  call  glorious,  here  below,  in  the  ma- 
terial landscape,  is  but  a  fainter  copy  of  the 
visions  reserved  for  immortal  eyes  :  scenes  of 
no  transient  or  decaying  beauty,  but  those  of 
the  heavenly  Canaan;  delectable  mountains 
bathed  in  no  fading  colours,  tinted  with  no 
departing  daylight ;  green  pastures — ever  green 
— where  the  Good  Shepherd  leads  his  sheep ; 
still  waters — oh,  how  tranquil — beside  which 
he  gives  his  flock  their  ardently  desired  repose. 
And  in  that  happy  country,  as  we  shall  be 
equal  to  the  angels,  so  we  shall  have  angels  for 
our  society.  Those  who  know  how  to  thank 
God  for  the  joys  of  friendship  here  on  earth, 
may  try  to  conceive,  sometimes,  what  it  shall 
be,  to  have  angels  for  companions ;  those  glo- 
rious creatures,  who,  while  they  excel  in 
strength,  and  are  intellectually  more  complete 
than  anything  we  know  of  genius,  or  which  we 
attribute  to  the  noblest  specimens  of  our  fellow- 
men,  are  yet  like  children  in  their  gentleness 
and  love,  and  withal  so  innocent  that  they 
need  no  repentance,  entreat  no  mercy,  and  un- 
derstand the  darling  attribute  of  God  only 
through  their  ministry  to  men.  But,  if  the 
thought  of  knowing  and  loving  angels — even 
those  who  have  served  us  on  earth,  who  have 


106        THE   REWARDS   OF   THE   RIGHTEOUS. 

been  about  our  bed  and  about  our  path — be  some- 
thing more  than  we  can  appreciate,  let  us  think 
of  seeing  and  knowing  the  saints  of  every  land 
and  time !  Think  of  meeting  in  those  happy 
seats,  not  only  the  patriarchs  and  prophets ;  not 
only  the  long  line  of  historic  saints,  such  as 
Clement  and  Chrysostom  and  Ambrose ;  but  the 
tender-hearted  St.  John,  and  the  rapturous  St. 
Paul,  and  of  recounting  to  all  the  evangelists 
and  Apostles,  our  gratitude  for  the  word  of 
life  we  have  received  from  them,  and  which,  on 
earth,  are  our  foretaste  of  beatitude !  Or,  is  this 
beyond  us  ?  Then  let  us  think  of  joining,  there, 
the  blest  society  of  less  ancient  worthies.  Let 
us  think  of  meeting  such  as  Taylor,  and  Ken, 
and  Leighton,  and  Home,  and  Heber,  and 
Henry  Martyn.  Who,  in  this  base  world,  does 
not  yearn  for  such  society?  infinitely  exalted 
as  these  sweet  souls  shall  be,  above  all  they 
ever  were  on  earth;  albeit,  of  some  of  them, 
'tis  true  that  their  tongues  dropped  manna,  and 
their  faces  shone  as  it  had  been  the  face  of  an 
angel.  Or  if  these  holy  creatures  be  too  far 
removed  from  the  scenes  of  our  own  humble 
walk  with  God,  for  us  to  imagine  what  they 
yet  may  be  to  us  as  familiar  friends,  who  has 
not  lost  from  his  bosom,  beloved  ones  with 
whom  once  more  to  meet  and  mingle  the  greet- 


THE   REWARDS  OF   THE   RIGHTEOUS.        107 

ings  of  a  love  infinitely  refined  and  elevated, 
would  of  itself  be  heaven  ?  Let  the  mother  re- 
member the  sweet  babe  whose  smile  was  to  her 
as  the  smile  of  the  cherubim,  and  "refrain 
her  voice  from  weeping  and  her  eyes  from  tears." 
These  too  "  shall  come  again  from  the  land  of 
the  Enemy."  That  we  shall  know  each  other 
in  a  better  world,  even  reason  assures  us. 
Alas !  to  say  nothing  of  those  frequent  mis- 
givings which  mar  our  earthly  friendships,  we 
never  can  know  one  another  in  this  world. 
Here  heart  never  meets  heart.  There  are 
limits  beyond  which  loving  words,  and  kind 
looks,  and  affectionate  actions  cannot  go.  We 
are  lonely  creatures  alike  in  our  heart's  bitter- 
ness and  its  joy.  But  in  heaven  we  shall  see 
each  other  no  more,  thus  darkly;  we  shall 
know  and  be  known,  as  we  are  known  of  God. 
To  suppose  any  lessening  of  our  knowledge  of 
each  other  is  at  variance  with  the  idea  of  glory. 
Even  Dives  in  his  torment  knew  Lazarus  afar 
off — yes,  and  knew  father  Abraham  too,  whom 
on  earth  he  had  never  seen.  So  too,  at  the 
Transfiguration,  that  designed  prelusion  of 
beatitude,  St.  Peter  knew  that  it  was  Moses 
and  Elias  that  appeared  and  talked  with 
Christ.  We  learn,  I  think,  from  such  intima- 
tions, that   our  knowledge  shall  no  more^de- 


108        THE   REWARDS   OF   THE   RIGHTEOUS. 

pend  upon  the  dull  process  of  learning  and 
remembering:  we  shall  know  all  things,  in- 
stinctively, with  intuition  approaching  that 
which  is  divine. 

But  how  much  is  comprehended  in  the 
assurance  of  our  blessed  Lord,  that  we  shall  be 
with  Him  where  he  is.  To  the  believer  this 
expresses  all  inferior  joys  :  "  Whom  have  I  in 
heaven  but  thee,  and  there  is  none  upon  earth 
that  I  desire  in  comparison  of  thee  !"  Christ 
is  himself  the  joy  of  his  saints.  While  he  was 
present  with  men  on  earth,  how  did  he  em- 
paradise  those  whom  he  admitted  to  his  com- 
pany, and  those  too,  who  with  honest  hearts 
received  the  words  of  his  preaching  ?  Even  to 
hear  him  seems  to  have  been  a  heavenly  plea- 
sure. "  Never  man  spake  like  this  man." 
But  Mary,  sitting  at  his  feet,  in  rapt  contem- 
plation, furnishes  us  with  a  still  more  striking 
example  of  his  power  to  satisfy  all  that  heart 
and  soul  can  desire.  How  often  were  the  dis- 
ciples "  glad  when  they  saw  the  Lord  !"  And 
yet  the  beloved  John,  who  had  so  often  re- 
clined in  his  bosom,  speaks  of  seeing  him  as  he 
is  as  the  peculiar  satisfaction  which  he  ex- 
pected in  heaven.  Yes,  for  here  it  was  the 
Man  of  sorrows,  whom  he  had  known  and 
so  tenderly  loved ;  there,  it  will  be  the  same 


THE   REWARDS   OF   THE   RIGHTEOUS.         109 

Jesus,  in  his  glory.  It  will  be  perpetually  the 
rapture  of  the  Transfiguration ;  that  ecstacy, 
for  which  the  mortal  powers  of  the  Apostles 
were  all  too  weak ;  but  which,  to  the  ravished 
Peter,  seemed  so  perfect,  that  he  fain  would 
have  detained  the  Saviour  and  his  saints,  upon 
the  mount,  in  tabernacles,  while  he  cried,  in 
his  transport  of  bliss,  "  Lord,  it  is  good  for  us 
to  be  here." 

Oh,  it  will  be  good  indeed  to  behold  that 
sight  in  heaven,  with  nobler  faculties  of  vision, 
and  with  souls  capable  of  the  full  delight 
w^hich  it  affords  to  the  angelic  choirs !  For,  in 
the  beatific  vision,  we  shall  not  only  see  God, 
but  we  shall  know  him  too.  This  shall  be 
our  employment  for  eternity,  and  it  will  be  one 
of  which  we  shall  never  be  weary.  What  un- 
satisfied wonder  and  amazement  are  professed 
by  men  of  science  who  devote  their  lives  to 
exploring  the  material  heavens,  though  they 
see  only  created  things,  and  that  "  through  a 
glass,  darkly."  What  then  must  it  be  to  see 
the  Creator  face  to  face  ?  Let  us  be  sure  that 
it  will  fill  eternity  with  growing  wonder,  de- 
light and  love.  "  In  a  three-fold  way,"  says  St. 
Bernard,  "shall  we  enjoy  him  in  that  eternal 
and  perfect  beatitude :  beholding  him  in  all 
created  things  and  persons ;  having  him  in  our- 


110        THE   REWARDS   OF   THE   RIGHTEOUS. 

selves ;  and — what  shall  be  ineffably  sweeter 
and  more  blessed  than  both — knowing  the 
Godhead  in  essence,  and  contemplating  with 
eye  unquenched,  and  without  a  shadow,  His 
glory.  For  in  this  shall  be  life  eternal,  and 
life  perfect,  that  we  may  know  the  Trinity — 
Jehovah  as  he  is ;  that  is  to  say,  not  as  he  is 
in  ourselves,  or  in  creation,  but  as  he  is  in  his 
own  self,  essentially."  So  too,  St.  Augustine, 
panting  for  this  accomplishment  of  all  the 
promises  of  God,  and  all  the  longings  of  na- 
ture, exclaims — "Oh  Lord,  thou  hast  formed 
us  for  thyself,  and  restless  is  our  heart  till  it 
finds  repose  in  thee  !" 

Finally,  that  repose  and  joy  are  everlast- 
ing, inexhaustible,  and  doubtless  ever  increas- 
ing as  well  as  ever  new.  The  Father's  house 
is  full  of  mansions ;  not  mere  tabernacles,  but 
abiding  places ;  eternal  homes.  On  earth,  our 
most  precious  things  perish  in  the  using ; 
our  dearest  pleasures  become  often,  by  their 
transitory  character,  the  sources  of  our  keen- 
est sufierings.  Oh,  the  blessedness  of  that 
world  where  change  and  decay  shall  no 
more  threaten  our  chief  joys :  w^here  no  mis- 
givings can  intrude  upon  our  satisfactions; 
and  where  our  inheritance  is  not  only  un- 
defiled,  but  incorruj)tible,  "  that  fadeth  not 
awa^^ !" 


THE   REWARDS  OF   THE   RIGHTEOUS.        Ill 

And  now  what  have  I  done  ?  I  have  failed 
perhaps,  to  impart  one  new  idea  of  heaven.  I 
have  felt  dissatisfied,  as  I  have  spoken :  and 
what  I  undertook  with  delight  has  ended  as  a 
task,  to  which  I  find  myself  even  more  incom- 
petent than  I  feared.  And  yet  were  you  ever 
ofiered  anything  better  than  the  things  of 
which  I  have  spoken?  Reflect,  that  this 
heavenly  inheritance  is  yours  already ;  blood 
bought  and  sealed  to  you  in  the  covenant 
of  your  baptism — so  that  nothing  can  deprive 
you  of  it  but  your  own  perverseness  :  nothing 
at  all,  if  only  you  will  give  diligence  to  make 
your  calling  and  election  sure ! 

Are  you  giving  such  diligence  ?  Be  honest, 
and  ask  yourself  whether  it  be  possible,  that 
with  such  a  possession  at  stake,  and  with 
eternal  hell  as  the  miserable  alternative,  you 
are  risking  all,  for  the  lack  of  earnestness 
in  the  pursuit  of  immortality  ?  Yes,  man  of 
money  and  of  business,  count  the  cost,  but 
be  sure  you  estimate  heaven,  as  you  certainly 
will,  if  you  lose  it  forever !  Put  yourself,  now, 
with  those  who,  when  the  door  is  shut,  shall 
stand  without,  crying — "  Lord,  Lord,  open 
unto  us!"  Do,  now,  as  they  will  do  then. 
When  the  books  are  closed,  and  the  Book  of 
Life  is  shut,  and  the  judgment  is  ended,  and 

10 


112        THE   REWARDS  OF   THE   RIGHTEOUS. 

the  world  begins  to  pass  away  in  flames,  and 
with  a  great  noise,  then  shall  the  wise  virgins 
be  bidden  to  the  marriage  supper,  and  enter 
into  the  joy  of  their  Lord.  A  bridal  train  !  A 
triumphal  entry !  To  them  the  New  Jerusa- 
lem shall  unfold  its  gates,  as  to  "  fellow-citizens 
of  the  Saints,  and  of  the  household  of  God." 
Who  of  us  shall  be  there  ?  Who  of  us  shall 
not  be  there?  Who  shall  hear  Depart  ye 
cursed  when  others  are  entering  the  joy  of 
their  Lord?  Who,  in  that  day,  shall  be  disap- 
pointed of  his  hope  ?  Who  shall  see  heaven, 
only  to  be  thrust  down  to  hell?  Answer — 
for  you  need  not  be  deceived.  You  are  as 
sure  to  be  saved,  as  you  are  to  be  judged,  if 
you  are  living  as  a  pilgrim  and  a  stranger  on 
the  earth,  and  seeking  a  better  country,  even 
an  heavenly.  You  are  as  sure  to  be  lost,  as 
you  are  to  die,  if,  on  the  contrary,  you  are 
living  for  this  present  evil  world,  and  refusing 
to  take  up  your  cross  daily,  and  to  follow 
Christ.  "  Blessed  are  they  that  do  his  com- 
mandments, that  they  may  have  a  right  to  the 
Tree  of  Life,  and  may  enter  in  through  the 
gates  into  the  city.  .  .  I  Jesus  have  sent  mine 
angel  to  testify  unto  you  these  things.  I  am 
the  root  and  the  offspring  of  David,  and  the 
bright  and  Morning  Star." 


SERMON  VI. 


SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES. 


ADVENT   EMBER-WEEK,    1855. 


This  know  also,  that  in  the  last  days  perilous  times  shall 
COME. — 2  Tim.  iii.  1. 

To  observe  closely  the  signs  of  the  times, 
with  reference  to  the  approach  of  judgment,  is 
one  characteristic  of  intelligent  piety.  The 
world  is  the  man  beholding  his  natural  face  in 
a  glass ;  a  superficial  reflection  of  self  is  all  it 
sees  in  times  and  seasons,  and  historical  events. 
The  child  of  God  has  an  instinctive  perception 
of  something  deeper  and  more  important.  He 
realizes  the  felicity  which  a  heathen  poet  once 
eulogized,  and  knows  the  causes  or  prime 
movements  of  things ;  but  more  than  all,  he 
understands  their  final  causes,  God  and  the 
kingdom  of  his  dear  Son.  In  this  spirit  of 
watching  and  praying,  even  his  enemy,  the 
world,  ministers   to  his  faith  and  hope;   and 

(113) 


114  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES. 

he  makes  auxiliary  to  his  fixedness  of  soul, 
even  those  temporal  things,  which  to  worldly 
men  are  commonly  the  aliment  of  their  unbe- 
lief and  the  source  of  their  perpetual  unrest. 

The  Ember-seasons  are  special  opportunities 
for  cultivating  this  holy  habit  of  observing  the 
signs  of  the  times.  They  are  not  to  be  re- 
stricted to  the  bare  idea,  important  though  it 
be,  of  prayer  for  those  about  to  be  ordained. 
Their  object  should  be  generalized;  they  should 
be  made  seasons  of  prayer  for  all  the  ministers 
of  Christ,  and  especially  for  missionaries,  as 
the  noble  vanguard  of  the  Christian  army. 
But  prayer  for  the  universal  spread  of  the 
Gospel,  implies  a  devout  study  of  the  wants 
of  the  world ;  and  so,  as  I  said,  it  implies  an 
intelligent  observation  of  the  signs  of  the  times. 
Moreover,  the  Ember-seasons  might  most  ad- 
vantageously be  made  the  occasion  of  renewed 
missionary  zeal  and  interest.  They  should  be 
the  springs  of  spiritual  refreshment  and  new 
life ;  and  as  they  recur  from  quarter  to  quarter 
of  the  Christian  year,  they  should  inspire  an 
unflagging  w^atchfulness,  and  an  ever  quicken- 
ing spirit  of  prayer  for  the  work  of  our  dear 
Lord,  the  great  work  for  which  a  Christian 
lives. 

The  Ember-season  in  Advent,  as  it  is  the 


SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES.  115 

first  of  the  four,  suggests  these  views  by  its 
special  character,  and  also  justifies  them,  as  in 
some  measure  appropriate  to  the  other  three. 
We  pray,  to-day,  for  all  ministers  and  stewards 
of  Christ's  mysteries,  that  they  may  have  great 
success  in  turning  the  hearts  of  the  disobedient 
to  the  wisdom  of  the  just.  We  pray,  also,  for 
all  those  who  are  to  be  called  to  any  holy 
function  in  the  Church ;  that  is,  for  those  to  be 
ordained  on  Sunday  next,  when  hundreds  will 
no  doubt  be  admitted  to  holy  orders  in  all 
parts  of  the  world.  This  we  do,  in  close  con- 
nection with  a  retrospective  view  of  the  min- 
istry, and  of  the  marvellous  success  of  John 
the  Baptist,  as  the  herald  of  Christ's  coming. 
At  the  same  time,  the  season  of  Advent  pro- 
longs its  more  general  appeal,  crying  to  us  as 
it  were,  from  hour  to  hour,  "  What  of  the 
night?"  As  one  of  the  watchmen  of  Zion,  I 
bless  God  for  such  a  week  of  prayer ;  a  week 
that  secures  to  me  some  portion  of  the  special 
intercessions  of  so  many  saints.  It  is  a  great 
encouragement  amid  the  especial  duties  of 
Advent ;  when  the  "  burthen  of  the  Lord  "  is 
heavy ;  when  a  pastor  is  called  to  rebuke  sloth, 
and  to  preach  judgment  to  come;  and  when, 
if  ever,  he  is  led  to  watch  for  souls  as  one  that 
must  give  an  account,  and  to  feel  deeply  that 

10* 


116  SIGNS  OF   THE   TIMES. 

"  it  is  required  in  stewards  that  a  man  be  found 
faithful."  Oh,  that  we  might  be  more  sure  that 
these  blessed  ordinances  of  the  Church  are 
faithfully  and  universally  kept!  If  you  would 
see  your  pastors  men  of  prayer,  and  faith,  and 
zeal,  help  them,  brethren,  in  these  appointed 
ways :  remembering  that  even  their  noblest 
efforts  for  Christ  must  be  supported  by  your 
faith  and  charity,  or  they  will  be  expended  in 
vain.  In  a  late  battle,  of  which  you  have  no 
doubt  read  all  the  particulars,  a  gallant  onset 
of  the  British  horse,  against  the  Kussians, 
which  cost  the  lives  of  two  out  of  every  three 
soldiers  engaged,  was  not  only  desperate  from 
the  beginning,  but  proved  worse  than  useless, 
for  want  of  infantry  to  follow  up  the  charge. 
Even  what  we  gather  from  the  columns  of  a 
newspaper  may  minister  to  faith,  if  we  wdll 
cultivate  the  habit  of  watching  the  signs  of 
the  times;  and  this  fact  may  show  us  how 
little  our  most  zealous  missionaries  and  pastors 
can  achieve,  as  soldiers  of  Christ,  unless  their 
bold  advances  against  God's  enemies  are  fol- 
lowed up,  and  supported,  by  the  whole  force  of 
the  people,  as  the  sacramental  host  to  whom 
our  great  Captain  has  entrusted  the  free  course 
and  glory  of  the  cross. 

The   text  is   one   of  the   many   scriptures 


SIGNS    OF    THE    TIMES.  117 

which  have  always  made  diligent  students  of 
the  prophecies  close  observers  of  the  world. 
It  was  addressed  to  the  young  bishop  of  Ephe- 
sus,  but,  as  must  be  apparent  from  its  terms, 
far  less  for  his  sake  than  for  ours,  on  whom 
these  ends  of  the  world  are  come.  The  last 
days  is  an  expression  which  more  concerns  us 
than  it  could  have  concerned  Timothy ;  and  as 
time  goes  on,  these  messages  of  the  Spirit  to 
the  generations  which  are  actually  closing  up 
the  world's  history,  will  be  more  and  more  im- 
portant. True,  the  Christian  era  is  called  the 
last  time,  considered  as  a  whole.  It  is  so 
called  by  St.  John,  and  by  St.  Paul;  so  also  in 
substance  by  other  Apostles,  and  our  blessed 
Lord  himself  It  is  the  last  dispensation,  and 
includes  the  last  periods,  or  stages,  of  human 
history  on  earth.  That  primitive  epistle,  as- 
cribed to  Barnabas,  allots  to  the  whole  history 
of  the  world  but  six  thousand  years,  corres- 
ponding to  the  days  of  creation;  but,  be  this 
as  it  may,  if  the  entire  dispensation  of  Christ 
be  the  last  time,  we  must  reflect  that  as  it 
already  begins  to  cover  one-third  of  all  time, 
these  days  of  ours  must  be  the  very  last  days ; 
the  days  when  perilous  times  are  immediately  at 
hand ;  if  they  be  not  at  this  moment  upon  us. 
It  may  be  well  for  us  to  inquire  whether  any 


118  SIGNS    OF  THE   TIMES. 

such  signs  of  Christ's  coming  begin  already  to 
abound. 

Observe,  then,  that  the  Apostle  has  not  left 
us  in  the  dark,  as  to  the  special  characteristics 
of  the  final  perils  of  the  Church.  We  learn 
from  the  context  that  a  marked  feature  of  the 
aggression  shall  be  its  covert  and  seductive 
system  of  warfare  against  Christ.  It  shall  not 
be  the  open  enemy,  and  the  pitched  battle; 
not  persecution,  and  avowed  hostility  to  the 
Cross;  but  a  masked  foe;  a  great  army  of 
household  poisoners  and  secret  assassins.  The 
enemies  of  Christ  shall  have  a  form  of  godliness 
in  order  to  destroy  its  power ;  they  shall  creep 
into  houses,  and  insinuate  corruption,  by  means 
of  society  and  personal  alliances.  They  shall, 
moreover,  sustain  themselves  against  the  re- 
monstrances of  men's  consciences,  by  signs  and 
wonders ;  and  as  the  old  Egyptian  sorcerers 
matched  the  miracles  of  Moses,  they  too  shall 
show,  within  certain  limits,  sign  for  sign,  against 
the  wonders  of  the  Gospel.  Like  those  ancient 
workers  of  iniquity,  they  shall,  indeed,  receive 
a  signal  check  to  their  crafty  ingenuity.  "  The 
finger  of  God"  shall  be  manifest  in  their  final 
discomfiture ;  but  yet,  for  a  time,  their  iniquity 
shall  abound,  and  the  peril  shall  be  great. 
God's   written  word,   Christ's  living   Church, 


SIGNS  OF   THE    TIMES.  119 

these  together  shall  be  the  only  absolute  safe- 
guards of  the  elect.  As  for  those  whom  sound 
doctrine  does  not  satisfy ;  who  are  not  content 
with  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  ;  it  is  a  fearful 
thought  that  "  for  this  cause,  God  shall  send 
them  a  strong  delusion  that  they  should  believe 
a  lie."  The  fall  of  such  shall  be,  at  once,  the 
natural  consequence  of  their  unfaithfulness 
and  disloyalty  to  Christ,  and  also  a  frightful 
example  of  God's  retributive  justice,  which 
thus  at  times,  even  in  this  world,  antedates 
the  judgment. 

The  progress  of  the  Gospel  in  the  world  has 
been  marked  by  periods,  well  defined,  and  pass- 
ing from  one  to  the  other,  as  the  steps  of  Jacob's 
ladder  mounted  towards  heaven.  Each  period 
brings  us  nearer  to  the  end ;  each  has  its  own 
character,  its  own  peculiar  trials,  and  its  definite 
results.  More  than  twenty  years  ago,  there  ap- 
peared in  England  a  form  of  fanaticism,  not  yet 
extinct,  which  attracted  much  attention  at  that 
day.  As  an  example  of  that  kind  of  watching 
which  I  have  commended,  let  me  cite  some 
remarks  which  were  made  at  the  time,  in 
private  correspondence,  by  an  eminent  divine, 
since  departed,  to  whom  England  owes  much 
for  his  services  in  the  cause  of  Christian  edu- 
cation.   "  If  these  things  be  real,"  says  Dr.  Ar- 


120  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES. 

nold,  "  I  take  it  merely  as  another  sign  of  the 
coming  of  the  Lord,  that  is,  of  the  termination 
of  one  of  the  great  ages  of  the  human  race; 
whether  the  final  one  of  all,  or  not,  I  be- 
lieve no  created  being  knows,  or  can  know." 
This  is  a  very  suggestive  remark  to  any  one 
familiar  with  the  early  history  of  the  faith  ;  of 
its  conflict  with  Judaism  ;  its  war  with  pagan- 
ism ;  its  stern  contest  with  philosophic  morality, 
that  favourite  scheme  of  the  apostate  Julian; 
and  its  successive  campaigns  against  heathen- 
izing heresies ;  all  marking  great  ages,  in  which 
Satan  took  new  forms  successively,  and  tried 
the  faith  and  patience  of  the  Church,  in  nu- 
merous ways.  Each  was  closed  by  some  new 
and  rapid  movement  developing  the  next; 
and  in  all,  the  Church,  though  triumphant  at 
last,  has  been  forced  to  feel  that  indeed,  "  we 
wrestle  not  against  flesh  and  blood." 

"  The  termination  of  the  Jewish  age  in  the 
first  century,"  continues  the  writer  I  have 
quoted,  "  and  of  the  Roman  age  in  the  fifth  and 
sixth,  were  each  marked  by  the  same  concur- 
rence of  calamities,  wars,  tumults,  pestilences, 
earthquakes,  and  the  like,  all  marking  the  time 
of  one  of  God's  peculiar  seasons  of  visitation." 
He  adds  :  "  Society  in  Europe  seems  going  on 
fast,  for   a  similar   revolution,  out   of  which 


SIGNS  OF  THE  TIMES.  121 

Christ's  Church  will  emerge  in  a  new  position, 
purified  I  trust,  and  strengthened  by  the  de- 
struction of  various  earthly  and  evil  mixtures 
that  have  corrupted  it." 

Now  I  cannot  but  think  these  remarks  are 
just,  and  that  the  new  age  has  been  so  fairly 
inaugurated  since  they  were  made,  as  that  we 
may  already  recognize  something  of  its  spirit. 
The  last  age  was  signalized  by  an  assault  of 
unparalleled  boldness,  upon  the  existence  of 
the  Church.  To  banish  the  remembrance  of 
Christ  from  the  earth  was  the  professed  object 
of  organized  and  persevering  effort,  which  suc- 
ceeded, to  a  great  extent,  in  revolutionizing 
society,  and  breaking  up  old  systems.  Its 
result,  nevertheless,  was  signal  failure.  The 
Gospel  retained  its  hold  upon  men's  hearts,  and 
more  than  ever  enlisted  the  homage  of  reason. 
Mankind  became  convinced,  by  the  experi- 
ment, that  the  roots  of  civilization  itself  are 
identical  with  those  of  the  Gospel.  Moreover,  in 
the  conflict  of  wits,  the  infidel  had  been  worsted 
in  his  chosen  field.  Right  reason,  as  well  as 
revelation,  had  been  found  entirely  coincident 
with  faith,  and  fatal  to  sceptical  philosophy. 
The  champions  of  unbelief  experienced  an  igno- 
minious rout.  The  Lord  seemed  to  langh  them 
to  scorn.     The   daughter   of  Zion   shook  her 


122  8IGNS   OF   THE   TIMES. 

head  at  them.  And  lo !  the  very  world  dis- 
dained them,  till  their  atheism  is  as  unfashion- 
able as  the  absurdities  of  their  new  calendar, 
or  the  follies  of  their  personal  attire.  The  result 
has  been  a  signal  advance  of  the  standard  of 
the  cross.  Not  one  inch  has  been  surrendered, 
while  new  empires  have  been  wrested  from 
paganism,  or  saved  from  growing  irreligion. 

The  low  watermark  of  such  an  age  had  been 
fairly  covered  by  the  flow  of  a  fresh  tide  about 
thirty  years  ago ;  but  it  was  considerably  later 
before  such  observers  as  I  have  quoted  began 
to  suspect  the  nature  of  the  new  peril.  Two 
things  then  began  to  be  apparent.  It  was  seen 
that  the  brilliant  scientific  progress  of  the  era 
had  so  arrested,  and  dazzled,  the  attention  of 
the  masses,  that  science  was  becoming  a  sort  of 
religion,  in  the  popular  estimation,  and  espe- 
cially the  speculative  developments  of  science 
falsely  so  called.  But  it  was  also  seen  that 
the  Gospel  was  to  be  betrayed,  by  this  novel 
religionism,  with  a  kiss.  A  form  of  godliness 
began  to  invest  everything  which  could  be 
used  to  destroy  its  power.  And  so,  at  last,  we 
see  Jannes  and  Jambres  resisting  the  Gospel 
again,  by  cunning  counterfeits  of  its  divine  in- 
stitutions. What,  that  is  peculiar  to  the 
Church  of  Christ,  has  not  the  world  stolen, 


SIGNS  OF   THE   TIMES  123 

and  attributed  to  itself?  What  new  form  of 
irreligion  does  not  borrow  the  Christian  name, 
and  attire  ?  And  behold,  they  show  sign  for 
sign,  and  oppose  miracle  with  miracle.  Sorcery 
itself  appears  again  with  its  wonders,  and  hag- 
gard necromancy  comes  forth  from  its  cavern, 
with  lying  oracles ;  and  they  vie  together,  in 
claiming,  for  their  enchantments,  an  equality 
with  those  sublime  and  benevolent  manifesta- 
tions of  divine  power,  which  accompanied  the 
first  advent  of  our  glorious  Kedeemer. 

So,  then,  these  are  not  only  the  last  days, 
but  the  perilous  times  are  come.  It  will  be 
wise  for  us  to  study  the  Apostolic  warnings, 
and  thus  forewarned  to  be  forearmed.  That 
the  new  contest  will  end  in  new  triumphs  of 
the  truth  no  Christian  can  doubt :  but  the 
fight  of  faith  may  first  try  all  souls,  and  prove 
fatal  to  not  a  few.  "  Evil  men  and  seducers," 
says  St.  Paul,  "shall  wax  worse  and  worse, 
deceiving,  and  being  deceived;"  and  whereas 
that  great  "  falling  away,"  which  he  predicts, 
has  been  for  ages  regarded  as  peculiarly  affect- 
ing the  See  and  Church  of  Kome,  I  am  forced 
to  compare  it  with  her  new  relations  to  Christ- 
endom, and  to  regard  her  present  position  as, 
on  every  account,  the  most  portentous  sign  of 
the  times.  Heretofore,  the  corruptions,  and 
11 


124  SIGNS   OF   THE    TIMES. 

enchantments,  and  lying  wonders  of  Eome, 
have  been  poured  forth,  as  from  a  cup  of  sor- 
ceries, in  her  left  hand ;  and,  until  now,  we 
have  been  able  to  recognize,  in  her  right  hand, 
that  ancient  chalice  of  Salvation,  which  Apos- 
tles committed  to  her  trust.  We  have  gladly 
seen,  moreover,  that  many  souls,  whom  she  had 
bound  in  her  chains,  have  scarcely  tasted  the 
one,  while  they  drank  deeply  from  the  other, 
and  seemed  to  live  and  thrive  as  Christians,  in 
spite  of  the  poison  she  proffered  them  as  Pa- 
pists. Thus  it  is  that  such  lovely  children  of 
God  as  Fenelon  and  Pascal,  while  they 
seemed  to  be  of  Rome,  and  so  considered  them- 
selves, were  yet  only  Christians  and  Catholics, 
whose  bondage  to  the  great  tyrant  of  God's 
heritage  was  rather  their  misfortune  than  their 
fault.  They  lived  on  the  right  hand  cup  of 
the  Apostolic  Creeds,  and  not  a  drop  did  they 
swallow  from  the  other,  without  signs  of  loath- 
ing and  disgust.  Alas !  my  brethren,  we  live 
to  see  the  day,  when  both  cups  are  so  finally  and 
inextricably  mingled,  that  there  seems  no  longer 
a  cup  of  salvation  in  her  hand.  How  God  will 
provide  for  his  few  faithful  that  are  left  in  her, 
we  cannot  presume  to  say :  but  we  can  say, 
and  we  ought  to  say,  that  since  Rome  was 
Rome,  she  never  stood  so  clearly  revealed,  as 


SIGNS  OF    THE   TIMES.  125 

she  does,  this  day,  as  the  great  Babylon,  whose 
end  is  to  be  destroyed.  Heretofore,  she  has 
kept  her  feet  on  the  great  foundation  of  Christ 
crucified,  as  the  author  and  finisher  of  the 
Faith.  I  take  it  for  granted,  that  since  Advent 
Sunday,  she  has  fulfilled  her  expressed  purpose, 
and  taken  the  final  and  irrevocable  step  of 
apostacy  from  Christ.  If  it  were  not  so  awful 
to  think  of,  it  might  even  be  amusing,  to  look 
at  the  present  position  of  those,  who  profess 
obedience  to  her,  in  our  own  land.  They  can- 
not tell,  this  day,  what  may  or  may  not 
be,  the  entire  profession  of  a  Christian.  As 
the  world  awaits  the  next  steamer,  for  new 
fashions  from  Paris,  so  these  expect  to  import 
a  new  article  of  belief  from  Rome.  The  "  faith 
once  delivered  to  the  saints,"  was  incomplete 
and  defective,  as  understood  and  preached  by 
St.  Paul:  it  is  reserved  for  the  nineteenth 
century  of  the  Gospel,  to  discover  its  true  be- 
ginning, and  to  appreciate  its  fulness  !  From 
a  throne  which  surrounds  itself  with  files  of 
bristling  bayonets,  while  it  claims  the  supre- 
macy of  a  kingdom,  "  not  of  this  world,"  goes 
forth  a  decree  that  henceforth  all  men  should 
believe  in  Mary,  even  as  they  believe  in 
Christ.  Practically,  they  are  to  believe  in 
Mary  more  than  in  Cdrist.     Of  the  vast  sig- 


126  SIGNS   OF   THE    TIMES. 

nificance,  and  frightful  consequences  of  the  new- 
dogma  of  Mary's  immaculate  conception^  it  is 
impossible  to  conceive,  without  mature  reflec- 
tion upon  the  fundamental  truths  which  it  un- 
dermines and  destroys.  So  vast  and  appalling 
they  are,  that  since  the  fable  was  first  broached 
in  the  days  of  St.  Bernard,  and  by  him  indig- 
nantly stamped  as  a  lie.  Popery  itself  has  shrunk 
from  acknowledging  it,  even  after  several  hun- 
dred years  of  its  practical  success.  Like  a  slowly 
dying  man,  Rome  has  heretofore  possessed  vi- 
tality enough,  to  throw  off  this  last  symptom  of 
dissolution.  At  last,  behold  the  stage  of  para- 
lysis and  of  mortification  1  The  gangrene  has 
reached  the  vitals.  She  is  no  longer  ^*  able  to 
endure  sound  doctrine ;"  she  is  "  turned  unto 
fables."  Where  now  is  the  Gospel  which  Rome 
once  knew;  and  the  faith  which  once  was 
"  spoken  of  throughout  the  whole  world  ?"  The 
fine  analogies  of  Christian  principle ;  the  whole 
scheme  of  salvation ;  the  grand  fact  of  "Christ 
alone  without  sin ;"  the  primary  verity  of  the 
corruption  of  all  the  natural  posterity  ol 
Adam;  and  the  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation 
itself,  as  recognized  for  ages  among  all  Chris- 
tians, all  are  gone  from  her.  And  what  have 
they  put  in  the  place  of  this  old  Gospel  ?  Lo  ! 
it  is  the  Gospel  of  Mary ;  not  the  Mary  of  the 


SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES.  127 

Evangelists,  but  the  Mary  of  romancers  and 
of  painters;  a  fabulous  creation  of  mediaeval 
art ;  of  Demetrius  and  his  craftsmen,  enshrin- 
ing Maria  of  the  Romans,  as  the  successor,  and 
the  counterpart  of  Diana  of  the  Ephesians. 

When  Judas  left  our  Lord,  with  the  eleven, 
the  Evangelist  adds — "and  it  was  night." 
Such  a  night  seems  just  now  to  be  settling  on 
the  world.  The  great  dawn,  the  resurrection, 
may  be  near,  but  oh,  it  is  night,  now,  for  a 
time !  The  Church,  whose  utter  apostacy  we 
have  lived  to  behold,  was  planted  by  the  first 
witnesses  of  the  Gospel.  There  St.  Paul  poured 
out  his  doctrine,  with  his  blood ;  there,  at  this 
moment,  the  precious  dust  of  that  glorious 
Apostle  awaits  the  resurrection.  There,  too, 
we  may  believe  that  St.  Peter  closed  his  la- 
bours, and  was  crucified  for  the  testimony  of 
Jesus,  and  now  sleeps  in  Him.  And  yet,  "  how 
is  the  faithful  city  become  an  harlot !  It  was 
full  of  judgment;  righteousness  lodged  in  it; 
but  now  murderers."  How  many  souls  will 
now  be  finally  given  over,  by  her  iniquity,  to 
the  profession,  as  well  as  to  the  practice,  of 
the  grossest  idolatry !  How  many  nations 
must  feel  the  blight  of  her  pestilent  breath ' 
What  was  said  of  her  formerly,  by  a  master- 
mind of  his  times,  is  now  more  than  ever  true 
11' 


128  SIGNS   OF  TIIE   TIMES. 

of  this  body  of  death.  "  When  I  contemplate 
the  whole  system/'  said  Coleridge,  "as  it 
affects  the  great  fundamental  principles  of  mo- 
rality, the  terra  firma  of  our  humanity ;  when 
I  trace  its  operation  on  the  sources,  and  con- 
ditions of  national  strength,  and  well-being; 
and  lastly,  when  I  consider  its  woeful  influ- 
ences on  the  innocence  and  sanctit}'  of  the 
female  mind  and  imagination,  and  on  the  faith 
and  happiness,  the  gentle  fragrancy,  and  ever 
present  verdure  of  domestic  life — I  can  with 
difficulty  avoid  applying  to  it  what  the  Kab- 
bins  say  of  Cain,  that  "  the  firm  earth  trembled 
wherever  he  strode,  and  the  grass  turned  black 
beneath  his  feet." 

Yes,  brethren,  when  I  see  Christ  himself, 
as  it  were,  putting  out  the  candle  of  such  a 
Church,  I  cannot  but  feel  that  it  is  an  awful 
sign  of  the  times.  I  cannot  account  for  this 
tremendous  downfall,  in  view  of  its  past  his- 
tory, on  any  ordinary  principles.  When  I 
reflect  on  its  probable  consequences  to  the 
millions  of  souls  who  wear  the  yoke  of  the 
papacy ;  on  the  encouragement  which  such 
treachery  to  Christ  must  afford  to  all  who  seek 
occasion  of  cavil  against  the  Gospel ;  or  on  the 
many  impostures  for  which  this  new  Gospel  will 
furnish  a  precedent,  in  a  day  so  fertile  in  inven- 


SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES.  129 

tions  against  the  truth,  I  must  feel  that  these 
are  tlie  perilous  times  of  the  text.  An  angel 
seems  to  have  sounded  in  the  heavens,  saying 
to  the  unclean  spirit  of  the  age,  "  This  is  your 
hour  and  the  power  of  darkness." 

In  our  own  country  we  seem  to  be  walking 
like  Christian  in  the  allegory,  between  Pope 
and  Pagan ;  between  the  imported  superstition 
of  the  old  world,  and  the  indigenous  heathenism 
of  the  new.  There  are  signs  which  may  well 
lead  us  to  fear,  that  America  is  to  be  the  field 
of  many  severe  engagements,  if  not  of  a 
general  war  with  Anti-Christ.  The  enterprize 
and  enthusiasm  of  our  times,  in  alliance  with 
the  wide  diffusion  of  a  certain  modicum  of  un- 
sanctified  knowledge  among  us,  is  developing 
in  the  vulgar  intellect,  a  strange  tendency  to 
gross  superstition.  It  is  a  tendency,  at  once 
ingenious  and  base,  inventive  and  vile,  keenly 
sceptical,  yet  mechanically  credulous.  It  is  sor- 
did, sensual  and  grovelling,  yet  hardy,  active, 
heroic  and  efficient.  To  what  does  it  tend  ? 
I  think,  to  some  enormous  perversion  of  Chris- 
tianity ;  as  utterly  hostile  to  Christ  as  Pagan- 
ism itself,  yet  professing  his  name,  and  borrow- 
ing many  of  his  institutions,  if  not  his  sacra- 
ments. I  have  quoted  one  pious  watcher,  with 
reference  more  especially  to  Europe;   let  me 


130  SIGNS   OF    THE   TIMES. 

cite  another  who  closely  observed  the  portents 
of  his  day,  with  reference  to  America.  At  about 
the  same  time,  the  late  Dr.  Southey  wrote  as 
follows  : — "  America  is  in  danger  from  fanati- 
cism. The  government  not  thinking  it  neces- 
sary to  provide  religious  instruction  in  any  of 
the  new  States,  the  prevalence  of  superstition, 
and  that,  perhaps,  in  some  wild  and  terrible 
shape,  may  be  looked  for  as  one  likely  conse- 
quence of  this  great  and  portentous  omission. 
Fanaticism  is  the  most  effective  weapon  with 
which  ambition  can  arm  itself,  and  the  way 
for  both  is  prepared  by  that  immorality  which 
the  want  of  religion  naturally  and  necessarily 
induces ;  and  camp-meetings  may  be  very  well 
directed  to  forward  the  designs  of  a  military 
prophet.  Were  there  another  Mohammed  to 
arise,  there  is  no  part  of  the  world  where  he 
would  find  more  scope,  or  a  fairer  opportunity, 
than  in  that  part  of  the  Anglo-American 
Union  into  which  the  older  States  continually 
discharge  the  restless  part  of  their  population, 
leaving  laws  and  Gospel  to  overtake  it  if  they 
can ;  for  in  the  march  of  modem  colonization, 
both  are  left  behind." 

These  prophetic  words  might  then  have  been 
laughed  to  scorn  :  but  while  they  were  yet  wet 
from  the  pen,  an  obscure  and  illiterate  indi- 


SIGNS  OF   THE   TIMES.  131 

vidual,  in  our  great  West,  was  busily  forging 
the  abominable  "  Book  of  Mormon,"  which, 
fourteen  months  later,  he  foisted  into  the 
world,  allying  himself  with  the  inorganic 
Christianity  of  popular  religionism,  precisely 
as  Southey  had  predicted.  He  lived  to  distin- 
guish himself  as  a  military  prophet,  and  to 
inaugurate  a  new  Mohammedanism  :  and  while 
we  have  been  sleeping,  this  cloud  like  a  man  s 
hand,  has  become  an  appalling  darkness  in  our 
western  horizon,  overcharged  with  elements  of 
evil.  It  is  a  fanaticism  at  once  wicked  and 
warlike.  It  has  assumed  a  territorial  and  civil, 
as  well  as  an  ecclesiastical  character.  It  has 
founded  its  temple  and  its  capital,  and  set  up 
its  seraglios.  Like  a  new  Sodom,  it  invests 
that  great  Dead  Sea  in  our  central  wilderness, 
and  there  aspires  to  the  character  of  a  sove- 
reign State.  It  is  already  recognized  by  our 
federal  government,  and  lifts  its  brazen  front 
in  our  Legislature ;  while,  under  the  shadow  of 
our  laws,  it  outrages  our  most  sacred  social  sen- 
timents, and  sets  at  nought  the  decencies  of 
civilization  ;  nay,  threatens  with  fire  and  sword, 
any  exemplar  of  purer  morality  that  may  pitch 
its  tent  too  near.  The  issue  who  can  fore- 
see ?     May  God  avert  what  threatens ! 

The  evil  is  one  which  our  national  constitu- 


132  SIGNS   OF   THE   TIMES. 

tion  could  not  prevent ;  and  for  which  possibly, 
it  may  find  no  remedy. 

But  might  not  this  gigantic  danger  have  been 
prevented,  if  the  Church  of  Christ  had  been 
alive  to  her  responsibilities? 

Even  now,  may  it  not  be  mastered  if  her 
sons  can  be  roused  to  the  great  duty  which  she 
owes  to  the  West?  Alas!  what  miseries  our 
children  must  live  to  behold,  if  a  new  spirit 
cannot  be  breathed  into  the  dry  bones  of  this 
generation ! 

And  my  brethren,  'tis  our  own  Apostolic 
Church  that  must  act,  if  ever  system  and 
order,  and  organic  life,  are  to  be  superinduced 
on  the  irregular  and  unnatural  varieties  of 
good,  which  are  all  that  popular  religion  can 
effect.  Not  that  I  undervalue  the  noble  efforts 
of  Christians,  from  whom  we  grieve  to  be 
separated,  and  with  whom  we  would  delight- 
edly act,  had  we  not  a  great  deposit  in 
reserve,  which  it  is  our  mission  to  keep,  and 
which  they  do  not  yet  understand.  With  us 
is  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  which,  even  now, 
blesses  the  whole  land,  while  it  dwells  in  cur- 
tains, waiting  for  the  day  when  the  good  and 
the  faithful  shall,  everywhere,  shout  to  behold 
it.  With  all  our  unworthiness,  let  us  know 
the  good  thing  committed  to  our  trust !  Much, 


SIGNS  OF  THE   TIMES.  133 

every  way,  is  our  advantage.  We  keep  the 
faith.  We  guard  the  great  system  of  primi- 
tive truth.  We  hold  in  readiness,  for  a 
better  day,  the  light  that  is  to  lighten  the 
Gentiles.  To  it  the  good  and  faithful  must 
turn,  at  the  last,  when  creedless  religions  have 
spent  their  strength,  and  when  the  need  of 
unity,  and  the  want  of  "  a  form  of  doctrine," 
shall  be  generally  felt  by  all  who  love  the  Lord 
Jesus.  Ours  then  will  prove  the  reward,  if  we 
do  our  own  work  with  patience  now,  to  reap 
the  fields,  which  others  sow,  and  to  bind  the 
sheaves  at  last  for  the  Master's  garner. 

Oh !  that  the  Lord  would  "  turn  the  heart 
of  the  fathers  to  the  children,  and  the  heart 
of  the  children  to  their  fathers,"  and  make  all 
his  people  in  this  land,  to  be  of  one  heart,  and 
one  mind,  "  striving  together  for  the  faith  of 
the  Gospel."  Oh !  that  our  countrymen  might 
learn  what  a  refuge  and  resource  they  have, 
from  the  evils  which  distract  and  disgrace  our 
Christianity,  in  the  Apostolic  institutions  they 
now  undervalue  and  neglect !  But,  above  all, 
oh  !  that  the  Church  miglit  shake  herself  from 
the  dust,  and  rise  to  the  measure  of  her  abilities 
and  of  her  duties !  Shame  on  our  worldliness, 
and  our  sloth !  Shame  on  our  unsa notified 
wealth,    and   our  unemployed   luxuriance   of 


134  SIGNS   OF  THE   TIMES. 

power !  Are  these  perilous  times  the  times  for 
slumber  ?  Wo  !  to  the  slothful  servant  who 
buries  his  talents  in  the  earth.  Alas !  Satan 
is  always  active.  Everywhere  iniquity  abounds. 
Good  men  are  faint  of  heart,  and  life  itself 
becomes  a  burthen  to  them,  because  of  the  evils 
they  cannot  cure.  But,  thanks  be  to  God, 
there  is  still  left  the  consolation  of  prayer ;  and 
they  who  are  alive  to  their  privileges  as 
Churchmen,  know  how  precious  is  this  great 
resource,  at  such  a  season  as  this,  when  our 
dear  Mother  calls  us  to  watch  and  to  pray,  all 
together,  and  with  one  accord.  There  is  a 
peace  in  her  blessed  communion,  which  the 
w^orld  can  neither  give  nor  take  away.  Enter 
then,  into  your  closets,  and  shut  to  the  doors, 
and  plead  with  God,  for  the  Church  and  for 
the  world.  It  is  the  bride  of  Christ  that  calls 
us.  Behold  how  she  looks  out  at  the  window, 
and  cries  through  the  lattice,  "  Why  is  his 
chariot  so  long  in  coming?  Why  tarry  the 
wheels  of  his  chariot  ?'* 


SERMON    VII. 


SPIRITUAL   REJOICING. 


C^RISTMAS   EVE. 


MeBCY    and    TbUTH     ABE    MET    TOOETHEB ;     RIGHTEOUSNESS    AND 
PBACS  HAVB  kissed  EACH  OTHEB.— Pb.  IxXXV.  10. 

As  the  evening  and  the  morning  were  the 
first  day,  at  creation,  so  in  the  new  creation, 
we  seem  naturally  to  begin  our  holy-day  with 
its  eve.  It  was  in  the  night  that  the  tidings 
of  great  joy  were  first  announced  to  men ;  and 
he  whose  heart  is  awake  to  the  delightful  spirit 
of  "  this  feast  that  cometh,"  will  not  be  slow  to 
antedate  its  blessings,  by  hallowing  even  the 
hours  which  immediately  precede  it,  and  which 
more  effectually  renew  to  his  devout  imagina- 
tion the  anthem  of  the  angels,  the  light  that 
shone  round  about  the  shepherds,  and  the 
amazing  sight  of  the  new-born  King,  "  wrapped 
in  swaddling-clothes  and  lying  in  a  manger. 
12  ( 135 ) 


136  SPIRITUAL   REJOICING. 

Fragrant  indeed  are  the  memories  of  this 
festival,  beyond  the  sweetness  of  the  living 
green  which  adorns  these  courts  of  the  Lord's 
house,  and  which  seems  to  realize  the  promise 
that  "  all  the  trees  of  the  wood  shall  rejoice 
before  the  Lord."  Welcome  these  refreshing 
emblems  of  a  reviving  Eden;  welcome  these 
tokens  of  a  joy  like  the  joy  of  harvest ;  wel- 
come these  rejoicings  "as  men  rejoice  when 
they  divide  the  spoil!"  To-night,  let  us  be 
willing  to  become  as  little  children,  in  the  sim- 
plicity of  our  love  to  the  Holy  Child  of  Beth- 
lehem. We  would  not  argue  with  scribes;  nor 
dispute  with  doctors.  For  once,  let  our  hearts 
have  way !  It  may  be  that  Jesus  was  not 
born  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  December.  It  may 
be  that  the  decorations  of  our  temples  might 
have  been  sold  for  an  hundred-pence,  and 
given  to  the  poor.  But  who  shall  forbid  us  to 
rejoice  in  a  Redeemer,  at  this  set  time,  which 
the  holy  Church  throughout  all  the  world  has 
agreed  to  hallow?  Who  shall  scowl  because 
we  are  happy?  Who  shall  object,  if  even 
"  the  glory  of  Lebanon  shall  come  unto  us,  the 
fir-tree,  the  pine-tree,  and  the  box  together,  to 
beautify  the  place  of  the  sanctuary  ?" 

It  is  an  important  fact  that  the  human  heart 
is  so  created  that  it  responds,  instinctively,  and 


SPIRITUAL   REJOICING.  137 

with  exultation,  to  the  idea  of  the  Incarnation. 
Of  this,  proof  enough  can  be  gathered  from  the 
confessions  of  Infidels,  and  the  spontanepus 
outbursts  of  nature  which  exist  even  in  the 
writings  of  heathen.  The  Incarnate  God  was, 
and  is,  the  Desire  of  Nations ;  and  though  some, 
who  call  themselves  Christians,  have  professed 
to  see  no  such  God  in  revelation,  I  make  no 
doubt  I  can  satisfy  a  reasonable  man,  from  the 
nature  of  man  himself,  that  nothing  less  can 
meet  our  necessities,  or  sufficiently  assure  us 
of  the  love  of  God  to  his  creatures.  When  I 
see  death  preying  on  God's  creation,  how  can 
I  be  sure  that  our  Maker  is  a  Father  and 
pitieth  his  children  ?  But  when  I  see  God 
himself  consenting  to  be  made  flesh,  to  sujffer 
and  to  die,  what  more  can  I  require  to  convince 
me  that  he  loves  the  world  ?  "  Herein  is  love, 
not  that  we  loved  God,  but  that  He  loved  us, 
and  sent  bis  Son  to  be  the  propitiation  for  our 
sins." 

The  text  derives  its  significancy,  as  part  of 
revelation,  from  those  other  Scriptures  which 
assert,  doctrinally,  or  historically,  what  its 
poetical  form  is  adapted  to  celebrate  liturgically. 
It  has  little  meaning  save  as  we  believe  that 
He  who  is  "  very  God  of  very  God  came  down 
from  heaven  and  was  incarnate  by  the  Holy 


138  SPIRITUAL   REJOICING. 

Ghost,  of  the  Yirgin  Mary."  It  requires  us, 
also,  to  believe  that  this  was  done,  "for  us 
men,  and  for  our  salvation."  For  it  celebrates 
a  reconciliation  between  Mercy  and  Truth,  and 
between  Kighteousness  and  Peace.  So  then, 
these  attributes  of  God  were  once  at  issue  with 
respect  to  men.  How  has  Justice  been  satis- 
fied, how  has  Truth  been  honoured,  if  indeed 
they  have  shared  embraces,  and  kisses,  with 
Mercy  and  Peace  ?  We  know  from  the  song 
of  angels,  that  peace  and  good-will  came  down 
to  earth  in  Christ.  We  know  that  He  came 
to  "  save  his  people  from  their  sins."  We  know 
that  he  "  bore  our  sins,  in  his  own  body  on  the 
tree,"  and  that  he  died,  "  the  just  for  the  unjust, 
that  he  might  bring  us  to  God."  Nay,  we  have 
it  in  express  words  that,  whereas  all  have 
sinned,  so  God  hath  "  set  forth  Christ  to  be  a 
propitiation,  to  declare  his  righteousness  .... 
that  He  might  be  just,  and  the  justifier  of  him 
that  believeth  in  Jesus." 

It  is,  therefore,  according  to  this  testimony 
of  Jesus  that  we  interpret  the  prophecy.  His 
incarnation  and  atonement  give  meaning,  and 
give  rapture  too,  to  the  inspiration  of  the  text. 
The  Word  is  made  flesh  that  he  may  satisfy 
eternal  justice,  and  make  us  the  subjects  of 
mercy :  that  he  may  vindicate  his  truth,  and 


SPIRITUAL   REJOICING.  139 

yet  establish  for  us  peace  with  our  Maker. 
Who  then  that  is  taught  the  Gospel,  can  fail  to 
interpret  the  psalm  ?  It  will  be  a  fitting  pre- 
paration for  the  morrow  to  dwell  for  a  time  on  its 
rich  and  suggestive  meanings,  as  thus  connected 
with  the  great  subject  of  our  festivity. 

There  was  a  time  when  every  attribute  of 
God  was  at  peace  with  his  creature  man  :  when 
the  Lord  rejoiced  in  all  his  works  of  creation, 
and  pronounced  them  very  good.  Oh,  what 
infinite  harmonies  were  disturbed  by  the  fall ! 
When  the  guilty  pair  fled  from  His  presence, 
and  knew  that  they  were  naked,  what  a  history 
of  discords,  and  collisions,  of  woes  and  miseries, 
of  pains,  diseases,  and  deaths,  began  with  that 
confession  of  their  guilt  and  shame !  I  am 
able  to  imagine  that  the  evil  which  had  been 
wrought  by  the  man  and  his  wife,  in  their 
common  crime,  was  one  of  a  magnitude  not  to  be 
expressed  in  words.  Its  consequences  prove  that 
it  shook  the  Universe  ;  and  in  the  consequences 
which  the  Son  of  God  himself  was  pleased  to 
share,  and  to  suffer,  in  the  flesh,  we  have  our 
strongest  warrant  for  believing  that  the  fall  of 
man  was  an  event  of  unspeakable  import  to 
Heaven,  and  to  the  powers  of  darkness,  as  well 
as  to  the  Earth,  and  its  inhabitants.     Such 

sinners  we  are  at  best,  that  we  may  well  doubt 
ill* 


140  SPIRITUAL   REJOICING. 

our  ability  to  estimate  the  nature  of  sin,  and 
its  character  in  the  sight  of  a  holy  God.  Alas  ! 
we  live,  in  this  fallen  world,  as  it  were  on  the 
borders  of  hell ;  and  iniquity  and  misery  become 
so  familiar  to  us,  that  we  can  even  be  merry 
amid  scenes  that  make  angels  weep.  "  Fools 
make  a  mock  at  sin ;"  and  thousands,  who  are 
not  fools,  except  in  this,  live  on,  in  sin,  with 
little  thought  of  their  desperate  disease ;  with 
only  a  vague  idea  that  they  are  infected  with 
the  leprosy  which  shocks  them  when  they  see 
it  in  others ;  and  with  no  conception  at  all,  of 
the  woe  and  misery  they  themselves  are  prop- 
agating among  mankind,  every  day  that  they 
survive,  impenitent  and  unforgiven.  No  wonder 
then,  if  we  fail  to  perceive  why  the  sin  of 
Adam  and  Eve  wrought  so  immediate,  and  so 
ruinous  a  result.  Nor  need  we  know  more 
than  the  fact  that  it  did  so  work.  Enough 
that  it  spoiled  Eden,  and  blasted  the  whole 
creation,  and  reduced  the  glorious  creature 
who  was  so  lately  perfect  and  entire,  the  image 
and  likeness  of  his  Maker,  to  the  condition  of 
a  poor  mortal  wretch,  unable  to  look  up  to 
God,  and  hiding  from  His  presence,  in  conscious 
degradation.  God  was  merciful,  but  He  was 
truthful  too  :  and  He  had  promised  that,  in  such 
a  day,  the   culprit  should   surely  die.     Here 


SPIRITUAL   REJOICING.  141 

Mercy  and  Truth  were  forced  to  part — for 
Truth  required  Justice  now.  And  so,  God  was 
the  God  of  Peace ;  but  His  righteousness  was 
now  invoked  to  war.  His  sword  had  been 
defied,  and  it  was  time  that  He  should  arise 
to  judgment,  and  avenge  His  broken  Law.  So 
Kighteousness  and  Peace  were  at  issue.  How 
should  He  show  Mercy  and  yet  keep  Truth? 
How  should  He  be  just,  and  yet  justify  the 
sinner  ? 

I  know  that  men  have  a  way  of  suggesting, 
here,  that  God  might  have  overlooked  the 
transgression,  and  acted  as  if  it  had  not  been. 
Such  a  suggestion  impeaches  infinite  wisdom 
and  infinite  goodness,  and  is  based  on  the  awful 
arrogance  of  an  attempt  to  judge  our  Judge, 
and  that  with  finite  powers,  and  with  little 
knowledge  of  ourselves,  and  less  of  Him.  The 
answer  is  that  God  knew  what  was  best  to  be 
done,  and  what  His  own  attributes  and  rela* 
tions  required.  In  doing  what  He  actually 
did.  He  taught  us  to  be  dumb,  however,  and  to 
own  His  goodness  as  well  as  His  justice,  since 
whatever  the  consequence  may  be  to  guilty 
man,  "  He  himself  took  part  in  the  same." 

The  problem  was  to  reconcile  Mercy  with 
Truth,  and  Righteousness  with  Peace.  Men 
admit   unreal   explanations,   and   make   false 


142  SPIRITUAL   REJOICING. 

compromises,  when  interest  seems  to  invite 
them.  We  are,  therefore,  too  easily  led  to 
suppose  that  this  settlement  might  have  been 
arbitrarily  made,  and  that  there  was  no  ne- 
cessity of  satisfying  the  attributes  of  God  with 
corresponding  exactions.  But  all  important  is 
the  lesson  we  are  taught,  concerning  the 
divine  character,  when  we  observe  how  abso- 
lutely He  is  just  as  well  as  merciful,  and  how 
impossible  it  is  for  God  to  lie,  even  in  order  to 
make  peace.  "God  is  not  a  man  that  He 
should  repent."  What  confidence  should  we 
possess,  at  this  moment,  notwithstanding  His 
promises,  in  any  ordinance  of  God,  had  He 
permitted  His  first  and  only  law  to  be  broken 
with  impunity,  or  had  He  forgiven,  without 
satisfaction  to  His  justice  ?  Or  what  in  such  a 
case  would  be  our  actual  ideas  of  sin  ? 

In  point  of  fact,  the  very  moment  of  the  fall 
demonstrated  the  existence  of  some  mysterious 
interposition,  securing  mercy  to  man,  and  sus- 
taining the  honour  of  God.  In  the  day  they 
had  eaten  they  became  mortal,  but  they  did 
not  immediately  die,  and  hope  was  inspired  in 
the  very  words  which  denounced  the  curse. 
The  seed  of  the  woman  should  "bruise  the 
serpent's  head."  So  the  Gospel  of  Christ  began. 
An  invisible  power  was  already  operating,  in 


SPIRITUAL  REJOICING.  143 

behalf  of  man.  The  thorns  and  thistles  that 
sprang  up  in  his  path,  were  not  unmingled 
with  flowers  and  fruit,  and  the  sweat  of  the 
sinner's  brow  was  relieved,  one  day  in  seven, 
by  the  Sabbath  that  survived  the  fall.  In 
spite  of  the  flaming  sword,  a  way  back  to 
paradise  was  opened  from  the  beginning :  for 
man  had  no  sooner  sinned,  than  an  atonement 
was  provided,  and  all  things  began  to  disclose 
a  second  Adam,  and  the  Lamb  "  slain  from  the 
foundation  of  the  world."  As  astronomers  have 
been  able  to  foreknow  an  undiscovered  planet, 
by  feeling  its  influences,  so  to  speak,  among 
the  orbs  with  which  they  were  familiar,  so, 
from  this  moment.  He  who  is  the  bright  and 
the  Morning  Star,  began  to  be  felt,  in  the  great 
system  of  the  Universe,  and  all  signs,  and  all 
prophecies,  began  to  point  to  his  appearing,  as 
the  Dayspring  from  on  high. 

But  who,  and  what,  should  he  be  on  whom 
the  hopes  of  the  world  were  already  depen- 
dent ?  She  who  had  been  the  first  victim  of 
the  Tempter  was  consoled  with  the  promise 
that  she  should  be  the  instrument  of  bringing 
into  the  world  the  Strong  Deliverer,  who 
should  bruise  the  head  of  her  enemy.  The 
pangs  of  her  special  curse  were  thus  alleviated ; 
and  when  her  first  child  appeared,  she  delight- 


144  SPIRITUAL   REJOICING. 

edly  exclaimed,  "  I  have  gotten  the  Man  from 
the  Lord,"  imagining  that  this  was  the  pro- 
mised seed,  though  alas  !  it  was  only  Cain — the 
first  murderer,  and  the  first  unbeliever,  the 
fruit  of  her  sorrow  and  her  sin.  Who  the 
Man  should  be,  and  "  how  he  should  be  able  to 
deliver  his  brother  and  to  make  agreement 
unto  God  for  him,'*  was  a  problem  of  which 
the  Lord  allowed  successive  generations  to 
feel  all  the  difficulty,  before  He  began  to  disclose 
the  King  in  his  beauty,  and  to  reveal,  little  by 
little,  His  stupendous  plan  of  mercy  to  man- 
kind. It  was  not  for  man  to  conceive  it ;  nor 
could  mere  man  accomplish  it.  None  less 
than  God  could  be  the  Finisher,  as  God  alone 
could  be  the  Author  of  our  faith. 

Among  the  many  prophecies  by  which  God 
made  clearer  and  clearer  the  great  mystery 
which  had  been  "  kept  secret  from  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world,"  until  it  was  at  last  made 
manifest  in  Jesus,  the  psalm  of  which  the  text 
is  part,  is  not  the  least  luminous  and  inspiring. 
The  object  of  prophecy  was,  little  by  little, 
to  prepare  men's  hearts  to  receive  the  Saviour ; 
and  by  the  wise  counsel  of  God,  these  prophe- 
cies were  delivered  in  all  forms  most  likely  to 
command  attention,  and  to  gain  a  lodging  in 
the  mind  and  soul.     By  a  dark  saying,  first  of 


SPIRITUAL   REJOICING.  145 

all,  concerning  the  seed  of  the  woman;  and 
then  by  signs  and  by  seasons;  by  figures  and 
parables ;  by  types  and  shadows ;  by  prosaic 
argument,  and  poetical  rhapsody ;  in  all  these 
ways,  and  by  others  not  classed  with  any  of 
them,  did  the  Lord  God  reveal  the  Desire  of 
Nations,  and  give  promise  of  His  appearing. 
The  prophetic  psalm  commanding  attention, 
inspiring  the  affections,  and  imbuing  the 
memory,  was  often  a  concentration  of  all  these 
modes;  and  it  is  so  in  the  instance  before  us. 
A  condensed  argument  is  the  very  essence  of 
the  text.  It  implies  all  I  have  said  of  the  at- 
tributes of  God,  and  involves  both  the  history 
of  their  disturbance,  and  the  promise  of  their 
reconciliation.  It  seems  also  to  explain  the 
sacrifices,  the  feasts,  the  signs,  the  emblems, 
and  all  the  ritual  and  scriptural  revelations 
which  the  pious  Hebrew  studied,  but  only  half 
comprehended.  But  chiefly  it  calls  up  to  re- 
membrance, that  most  holy  of  all  the  Jewish 
symbols,  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  with  its 
mercy-seat,  and  its  cherubim,  and  that  abiding 
brightness,  or  Shekinah,  that  covered  it.  The 
Ark  was  a  coffer,  or  chest  of  gold,  and  was 
wrought  on  purpose  to  make  memorable  the 
Covenant;  that  is  to  say,  the  promise  of  salva- 
tion, through  One  who  should  mediate  between 


146  SPIRITUAL   REJOICING. 

God  and  man,  reconciling  Mercy  and  Truth, 
and  Righteousness  and  Peace.  Its  lid  was  of 
beaten  gold,  and  was  called  the  abode  of  re- 
conciliation, the  propitiatory,  or  the  mercy- 
seat;  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  was  ever 
present  upon  it ;  while,  above  it,  the  cherubim 
joined  their  wings,  ^^  shadowing  the  mercy 
seat,"  and  looking  down,  in  wonder  and  adora- 
tion. The  Ark  itself,  implied  the  human 
nature,  and  the  glory  resting  upon  it,  the 
divine  nature,  which  were  to  be  united  in 
Christ,  and  which  were  concerned  in  the  cove- 
nant of  a  Saviour;  while  the  angels  bending 
over  it,  implied  that  the  Son  of  God  was  to  be 
a  little  lower  than  the  angels ;  was  to  be  seen 
of  angels,  as  he  dwelt  on  earth ;  was  to  be 
made  man,  and,  as  man,  to  work  our  redemp- 
tion. Thus  were  presignified  also  the  amaze- 
ment, and  the  love  of  angels ;  the  astonishment 
and  the  adoration  of  heaven ;  the  mute  rap- 
ture, and  absorbing  worship,  with  which  the 
powers  of  God's  highest  courts  bent  down  and 
gazed  upon  the  Incarnation.  Now  all  this, 
that  was  so  richly  symbolized  in  the  fabric  of 
that  mysterious  Ark,  was  said  in  words,  less 
figurative,  in  this  golden  psalm.  Meray  and 
Truth  are  met  together-,  Righteousness  and  Peace 
have  hissed  each  other :  "  Truth  shall  flourish 


SPIRITUAL  REJOICING.  147 

out  of  the  earth,  and  Righteousness  hath  looked 
down  from  heaven." 

Thus  was  tlie  Jew,  and  through  him  the  world, 
made  to  perceive  and  know  the  nature  of  the 
mercy  which  had  interposed,  at  the  fall  of 
man :  that  is  to  say,  the  nature  of  that  second 
Adam  who  should  bruise  the  serpent's  head. 
He  should  be  perfect  God,  and  perfect  man :  He 
should  be  made  lower  than  the  angels,  for  man's 
salvation ;  He  should  be  the  mercy  seat,  and 
peace  on  earth.  Truth  and  Righteousness 
looking  down  on  Him  should  be  well  pleased ; 
and  being  well  pleased  with  Him,  should  at  the 
same  time,  accept  all  of  the  human  race  who 
should  be  joined  to  Him.  And  to  express  this 
perfect  reconcilement  of  earth  and  heaven,  this 
blest  renewal  of  harmony  between  men  and 
angels,  in  the  Incarnate  God,  it  is  to  be  noticed 
that  the  cherubim,  who  stood  upon  the  Ark, 
and  overshadowed  the  mercy  seat,  were  by 
the  special  command  of  God,  made  part  of 
it ;  not  screwed  upon  it,  but  inwrought  with 
it,  so  that  all  was  one  apiece,  expressing  one 
perfect  system,  a  system  embracing  heaven 
above  and  the  earth  beneath.  No  wonder  that 
the  accomplishment  of  such  a  pledge  was  cele- 
brated by  the  morning  stars,  with  a  renewal  of 
their  Sabbath-song  over  the  finished  creation. 
1.^ 


118  SPIRITUAL   REJOICING. 

Again,  at  the  Nativity,  the  sons  of  God  shouted 
for  joy,  saying,  "Glory  to  God  in  the  high- 
est." Angels  and  men  were  reunited  in  Mes- 
siah. In  short  Jesus  Christ  was  the  spirit 
of  all  this  prophecy.  His  Incarnation,  for  us 
men  and  for  our  salvation,  had  filled  the  suc- 
cessive ages  with  signs  of  its  approach.  Of 
Him,  all  things  had  said  beforehand,  what  the 
Apostle  recorded  as  history,  when  all  prophecy 
was  made  good  in  Christ,  "  God  was  manifest 
in  the  flesh,  seen  of  angels."  Yes,  my  brethren, 
search  the  Scriptures,  for  they  testify  of  Him ; 
and  the  prophets  and  the  psalms  derive  their 
meaning  only  as  we  see  in  them  the  prospective 
truth  "  that  the  Word  was  made  flesh,  and 
tabernacled  among  us,  and  we  beheld  His  glory, 
the  glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father, 
full  of  grace  and  truth." 

Our  rejoicings  before  the  Lord,  at  this  time, 
attest  our  faith  that  all  has  been  fulfilled,  as 
was  promised,  and  that  He  who  was  born  of 
woman  has  bruised  the  serpent's  head,  and  is 
the  second  Adam,  and  the  Lord  from  heaven. 
How  delightful  to  behold  the  expectation  of 
four  thousand  years,  realized  at  last,  in  the 
Babe  of  Bethlehem.  This  is  He  whom  prophets 
and  kings  have  desired  to  see,  and  on  whom 
they  have   showered    the   fragrance   of  their 


SPIRITUAL   REJOICING.  149 

hearts,  in  words  of  desire  and  love.  Here  is 
Noah's  Rainbow,  and  Abraham's  Provided 
Lamb :  the  Shiloh  of  Jacob,  and  the  Rock  of 
Moses.  Here  is  the  true  Manna,  and  the  Ark 
of  the  Covenant.  Here  is  the  Son  of  David,  and 
Solomon's  Rose  of  Sharon.  Here  is  He  who  is 
Isaiah's  only  theme;  his  Immanuel,  and  his 
Man  of  Sorrows ;  the  Wonderful,  the  Counsellor, 
the  Mighty  God,  the  Everlasting  Father,  the 
Prince  of  Peace !  Yes,  He  who  comprehends 
all  these  titles,  and  fulfils  alike  their  humilia- 
tion and  their  glory,  behold  Him  "wrapped  in 
swaddling  clothes,  and  lying  in  a  manger." 

Thus  then  the  footstool  and  the  throne  are 
united  in  this  Bow  of  Promise,  and  the  heavens 
and  the  earth  have  come  together,  in  this  em- 
brace of  Mercy  and  Truth.  Well  may  the 
hill  country  of  Judea  be  illuminated  with 
heavenly  light,  while  mortal  ears  hear  once 
again  the  music  of  the  skies !  Well  may  a 
new  star  be  seen  by  the  eastern  watchers, 
hovering  like  the  pillar  of  fire,  over  the  place 
where  the  young  child  lies.  There  is  the 
true  mercy  seat ;  and  all  the  angels  of  God 
bend  in  rapture  over  that  scene  in  the  manger, 
because  there  is  displayed,  at  last,  all  that 
has  been  hidden  so  long.  There  is  the  only- 
begotten  of  the  Father,  "  the  end  of  the  law 


150  SPIRITUAL   REJOICING. 

for  righteousness  f  perfect  man  to  suffer  and 
to  die  for  sinners,  and  so  to  magnify  the  Law, 
and  to  establish  the  truths  and  perfect  Goi>^ 
that  His  merits  may  make  our  peace^  and 
secure  mercy  to  all  who  come  to  him  by  faith  ' 
yes,  one  Christ,  both  God  and  man,  in  whom 
Mercy  and  Truth  have  met  together:  Right- 
eoiisness  and  Peace  have  hissed  each  other. 

But  w^e  must  not  dismiss  this  great  subject, 
without  the  earnest  reflection,  that  it  is  not 
enough  to  behold,  in  Christ,  the  world's  Ke- 
deemer,  without  appropriating  Him,  as  one's 
own  Redeemer.  Say  not  only  "behold  the 
Saviour,"  but  also  "  behold  my  Saviour  :'* 
and  remember  that  He  as  really  comes  to  you 
personally,  as  if  there  were  none  else  to  be 
sought  and  saved.  You  are  lost,  by  nature, 
and  Adam's  sin  is  but  a  token  of  your  own  in- 
numerable transgressions.  If  Adam  had  not 
fallen,  God  had  never  been  incarnate ;.  but  re- 
flect that  your  sins  as  much  require  the  atone- 
ment as  the  primal  guilt  of  your  first-parents. 
Let  us  bring  home  the  truth,  that  our  own  per- 
sonal guilt  is  as  really  abhorrent  to  our  Maker 
as  w^as  that  of  Adam,  and  possibly,  is  not  much 
less  in  its  true  character.  We,  indeed,  are 
conceived  in  sin,  but  then  we  are  sanctified  in 
baptism,  and  we  have  grown  up,  strengthened 


SPIRITUAL   REJOICING  151 

by  grace,  and  enlightened  by  the  Scriptures. 
What  an  enormity  is  a  Christian's  transgres- 
sion !  Who  but  God  can  know  its  consequences, 
or  understand  its  relations?  I  must  not  only 
try  and  examine  myself  by  the  searching  law  of 
GrOD,  but  I  must  estimate  my  sins  by  the  woe 
and  misery  which  sin  has  brought  into  the 
universe,  and  by  the  sacrifice  which  has  been 
required  to  atone  for  it,  and  to  regenerate  the 
soul.  The  true  believer  does  not  curse  his 
father  Adam  for  the  ills  which  he  beholds  and 
feels.  Alike  when  he  suffers  in  person,  or 
when  he  groans  over  the  wretchedness  of  the 
world,  or  when  he  smites  his  breast  in  view 
of  the  cross  and  its  marvellous  victim,  he  feels 
and  says :  "  my  sin — the  sin  of  which  I  am  so 
great  an  accessory — yes,  I  have  done  this." 
This  is  the  faith  that  is  necessary  to  true  re- 
joicing in  Christ.  It  is  faith  with  which  love 
is  mingled  in  due  proportion.  It  comes  not  to 
gaze  on  the  Saviour,  and  to  welcome  Him  with 
words  to  the  world ;  but,  oh !  it  "  kisses  the 
Son  ;'*  it  bathes  His  feet  with  tears ;  and, 
though  there  be  no  room  for  Him  in  the  inn, 
it  receives  Him  into  the  heart,  and  there  ap- 
propriates His  salvation,  as  if  one's  own  sin 
were  the  cause  of  His  humiliation ;  as  if  one's 


13* 


152  SPIRITUAL  REJOICING. 

own  love  and  gratitude  were  to  be  bis  sole 
reward. 

8ucb  is  the  faith  which  alone  suflSces  to 
sanctify  this  holy  time,  and  to  make  it  accep- 
table to  the  new-born  Immanuel.  Oh  how 
comprehensive  is  the  believer's  view  of  his 
Saviour ;  how  utterly  blind  is  the  carnal  eye- 
sight to  the  real  glories  of  His  presence  !  If 
you  have  not  yet  learned  to  rejoice  in  Him  as 
your  own  Saviour,  alas !  "  ye  worship  ye  know 
not  what,"  and  the  "Day-star"  has  not  yet 
risen  in  your  hearts.  True  love  embraces  Him, 
meanwhile,  in  all  His  fulness,  for  self  and  for 
the  whole  dying  world  besides.  It  sees  in  Him 
at  once,  the  joy  of  the  whole  earth,  and  her 
own  Beloved.  Nor  does  it  see  Him  less  clearly 
as  a  priest,  than  as  a  king.  Even  on  His  birth- 
day we  celebrate  His  death,  in  the  Eucharist. 
It  is  because  of  this  harmony  of  all  truth  in 
Christ>  He  is,  at  the  same  moment,  the  An- 
cient of  days,  and  the  Holy  Child ;  the  Lion 
of  Judah,  and  the  Lamb  of  God ;  the  Darling 
of  the  Virgin's  bosom,  and  the  agonizing 
Victim  of  the  cross ;  the  scorn  of  man,  and  the 
well-beloved  of  the  Father.  The  whole  Gospel 
is  bound  up  in  Him ;  and  as  we  gain  the  Pisgah 
of  true  faith,  all  the  land  of  the  Incarnation 
opens  in  one  view,  from  Bethlehem  to  Galilee, 


SPIRITUAL   REJOICING.  153 

and  from  Tabor  to  Calvary.  The  same  lights 
and  shadows  invest  the  manger  and  the  cross ; 
and  Jesus,  in  the  midst  of  all,  is  the  abiding 
glory ;  always  transfigured  before  us ;  the  same 
in  the  swaddling  clothes,  or  in  the  purple  robe, 
as  upon  the  holy  mount ;  and  viewed  already, 
while  He  lies  in  the  manger,  as  marred  more 
than  the  sons  of  men,  and  lying  in  the  tomb. 
The  Incarnation  and  the  Atonement  must 
blend  in  every  true  conception  of  the  Messiah  ; 
and  myrrh  must  mingle  with  frankincense,  in 
every  tribute  which  is  offered  Him,  out  of  the 
treasures  of  the  heart. 

It  is  good  then  to  keep  the  feast  of  the  Na- 
tivity ;  to  rejoice  before  the  Lord,  and  to  be 
glad  in  Him  with  psalms.  It  is  good  to  enter 
His  courts  with  praise,  and  to  make  home 
bright  with  the  same  glory  of  the  Lord  which 
shines  in  His  sanctuary.  The  blessed  influ- 
ences of  this  holy  season  are  such  as  sweeten 
life  and  freshen  domestic  piety,  and  quicken 
the  pulses  of  human  sympathy  toward  the  pooi 
and  needy.  They  draw  man  to  man  as  brothei 
to  brother,  and  impress  society  with  the  sancti- 
fying conviction,  that,  after  all,  it  is  the 
Gospel,  and  the  Gospel  alone,  that  can  answer 
the  wants  of  mankind.  The  institution  is 
civilizing,   harmonizing,  Christianizing.     It   is 


154  SPIRITUAL   REJOICING. 

wanted  in  this  work-day  world,  and  nothing 
else  could  possibly  fill  its  place.  But  not  on 
these  low  grounds  am  I  content  to  commend  it 
to  your  devout  observance,  for  he  who  keeps  it 
only  on  such  grounds,  may  be  a  man  of  feeling 
and  of  taste,  but  he  cannot  be  a  Christian. 
It  is  Only  in  the  comprehensiveness  of  its  cha- 
racter, as  I  have  endeavoured  to  unfold  it,  and 
because  of  its  grand  substance,  as  Christ  and 
Him  crucified,  that  it  is  worthy  of  a  believer's 
regard.  It  presents  to  him  the  faith  by  which 
he  lives,  all  the  year:  but  its  peculiar  attraction 
is  that  it  freshens  his  sight,  and  regales  his 
heart,  with  those  views  of  Christ  and  his  Gos- 
pel, which  are  sweetest,  and  most  cheerful; 
which  while  they  do  not  displace  the  crown  of 
thorns,  exhibit  Him  in  His  diadem  of  beauty ; 
and  which,  while  they  demand  repentance,  en- 
kindle love  more  sensibly,  and  draw  out  the 
soul  with  less  of  a  conscious  struggle  against 
sin,  than  of  delight  and  joy  in  God.  When 
a  Christmas  is  so  kept  as  to  answer  this 
high  spiritual  end,  then  it  is  that  its  value  is 
perceived,  and  Christ  is  glorified  by  its  ob- 
servance. Oh,  then,  so  long  as  your  Christmas 
lasts,  let  your  heart  be  as  contrite,  as  your 
tongue  is  musical  with  joy !  If  you  call  Him 
your  Saviour,  let  Him  save  you.     If  you  wel- 


SPIRITUAL  REJOICING.  155 

come  Him  as  the  world's  salvation,  fail  not  to 
receive  Him  yourself,  as  your  strength  and 
your  Redeemer. 

And  now,  unto  Him  who  is  worthy  to  re- 
ceive glory,  and  honour,  and  power  j  to  the 
only  wise  God  our  Saviour,  with  the  Father 
and  the  Holy  Ghost,  be  ascribed  all  might, 
majesty,  and  dominion,  henceforth,  and  for- 
ever. Amen, 


SERMON    VIII. 


THE    ROYALTIES    OF    CHRIST 


CHRISTMAS    DAY. 


Thou  abt  fairer  than  the  children  op  men  ;  full  of  grace 
IRE  Thy  lips,  because  God  hath  blessed  Thee,  forever. 
-Ps.  xlv.  3. 

To  the  holy  Babe  in  the  manger  we  address 
this  salutation  as  to  Him  in  whom  its  prophetic 
words  are  fulfilled.  First,  to  Him  let  all  our 
hearts  be  turned,  as  to  the  Dayspring  from  on 
high;  and  then  let  us  greet  one  another  with 
warm  congratulations  on  the  return  of  this 
festival  of  peace  and  good- will.  It  is  the  spirit 
of  the  feast  to  renew  the  universal  brotherhood 
of  man ;  and  especially  to  diffuse  through  the 
family  of  Christ,  the  vital  warmth  of  charity. 
The  genial  delights  of  Christmas  overflow  our 
private  homes.  Wherever  the  blessed  name  of 
Jesus  is  heard,  it  quickens  a  tender  sympathy 
among  all  believers,  and  eye  kindles  to  eye, 
(156) 


THE   ROYALTIES   OF   CHRIST.  157 

and  heart  throbs  with  heart,  as  we  wish  well 
to  one  another  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  Oh 
that  every  human  heart  might  rejoice  in  Him ! 
Oh  that  every  ransomed  soul  might  keep,  with 
us,  this  feast  of  charity,  in  spirit  and  in  truth ! 

Come  then,  my  brethren,  let  us  leave  the 
world  without,  and  enter  in,  and  keep  this  day 
with  the  Babe  of  Bethlehem,  and  with  Mary 
and  the  shepherds,  praising  and  blessing  God. 
Here  is  no  abstraction  presented  to  our  faith ; 
no  dogma  of  the  schools ;  but  that  which  our 
eyes  may  see,  and  our  hands  handle  of  the 
Word  of  life.  "  Unto  us  a  child  is  born,  unto 
us  a  Son  is  given."  This  day  becomes  to  the 
believer,  an  element  in  his  Christian  life :  it 
introduces  him,  personally,  to  His  Redeemer : 
it  reproduces,  and  enables  him  to  live  in,  the 
days  of  the  Son  of  Man  :  and  drawing  him  by 
ties  of  love,  it  entwines  his  affections  with 
his  faith,  and  binds  his  ardent  hope,  as  by  the 
cords  of  a  man,  to  the  Desire  of  all  Nations — 
God  manifest  in  the  flesh. 

The  psalm  of  which  the  text  is  part  is  styled 
a  "  song  of  loves."  It  is,  in  its  highest  sense, 
the  language  of  God  the  Father  to  His  well- 
beloved  Son ;  and  Jis  such,  the  spouse  of  Christ 
sets  it  apart  for  her  royal  bridegroom,  as  espe- 
cially suited  to  the  solemnities  of  this  Feast 


158  THE    ROYALTIES   OF   CHRIST. 

of  Love.  She  sees  Him,  as  He  is ;  and  though  the 
world  has  refused  to  recognize  the  glorious 
stranger,  and  has  thrust  Him  from  the  Inn,  she 
comes  like  those  Eastern  Sages,  who  beheld 
his  Star,  bringing  this  box  of  very  precious 
ointment,  that  she  may  break  it  on  the  head 
of  the  Hol}^  Child.  She  knows  her  king  :  she 
greets  her  God.  This  helpless  infant,  she 
worships  by  His  name  Jehovah :  this  despised 
outcast,  she  invests  with  titles  of  majesty  and 
adoration ;  she  sheds  on  Him  all  the  fragrance 
of  her  affection,  as  she  sings  her  song  of  loves, 
and  assures  herself  that  He  is  indeed  the  chief 
among  ten  thousand,  and  altogether  lovely. 
In  following  this  tide  of  rapture  as  it  gushes 
from  her  heart,  it  is  delightful  to  be  borne 
along  with  it,  in  all  that  fulness  of  confidence, 
with  which  she  entrusts  herself  to  Him,  as  her 
strong  deliverer,  and  reposes  on  His  arm^  as 
mighty  to  save.  Babe  as  He  is,  she  sees,  in  His 
hand,  the  key  of  David,  and  the  government 
upon  His  shoulder.  She  beholds  Him,  already 
as  the  Captain  of  salvation,  and  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Gospel,  forecasts  its  triumph,  to 
the  end.  "Gird  thee  with  thy  sword  upon 
thy  thigh,  oh  thou  most  Mighty,  according  to 
thy  worship  and  renown."  So  she  exults  in 
the  sure  kingdom  of  her  Saviour.    She  knows, 


THE   ROYALTIES   OF   CHRIST.  159 

indeed,  that  against  this  holy  child,  kings  shall 
stand  up,  and  rulers  take  counsel  together ;  but 
she  knows  too,  that  He  is  stronger  than  they : 
and,  therefore,  she  makes  the  very  manger  re- 
sound with  the  alleluias  that  encircle  the 
throne,  and  greets  Him  beforehand,  as  a  Con- 
queror— as  King  of  kings,  and  Lord  of  lords. 

It  is  well  enough  to  remember  that  this 
psalm  had  its  type  and  shadow,  in  the  relations 
of  Solomon  to  David;  but,  who  can  hear  its 
sublimer  strains,  without  feeling  that  Inspira- 
tion has  so  elevated  this  magnificient  ode, 
above  the  symbolical  incidents  which  served 
as  its  occasion,  that  one  must  constantly  ex- 
claim, "  a  greater  than  Solomon  is  here  ?"  Faith 
changes  the  scene  from  the  earthly  to  the 
heavenly  Zion,  and  infinitely  enlarges  the 
scale.  "Thy  throne,  oh  God,  is  forever  and 
ever :"  to  what  Solomon  can  this  belong,  save  the 
Prince  of  Peace  himself,  to  whom  it  is  ascribed 
by  St.  Paul?  And  so  the  text ;  whose  glorious 
person  can  it  describe,  save  that  of  the  great 
Melchizedek;  the  king  in  his  beauty?  It  is 
Christ's  alone  by  every  right,  and  token ;  by 
all  those  endearing  graces  that  make  up  "  the 
fair  beauty  of  the  Lord,"  in  the  eyes  of  His 
adoring  Church  !     He  is  "  the  Rose  of  Sharon, 

and  the  Lily  of  tlie  Valley,"  therefore,  to  Him 
14 


160  THE   ROYALTIES   OF   CHRIST. 

alone  belongs  the  eulogy,  "thou  art  fairer 
than  the  children  of  men."  The  testimony  of 
His  foes  concerning  Him,  is  that  "  never  man 
spake  like  this  man ;"  "  they  wondered  at  the 
gracious  words  that  proceeded  out  of  His 
mouth."  To  Him,  therefore,  we  sing  "  full  of 
grace  are  thy  lips."  And  when  the  psalm  con- 
tinues, because  "God  hath  blessed  thee  for- 
ever"— we  address  it  only  to  Him,  to  whom 
the  Father  hath  given  all  His  power ;  and  who 
ascends  the  chariot  of  His  sure  victory,  with 
this  salutation  from  the  heavens — "  ride  on,  be- 
cause of  the  word  of  truth,  of  meekness  and  of 
righteousness,  and  thy  right  hand  shall  teach 
thee  terrible  things." 

The  text,  then,  exhibits  Jesus  and  His  Gos- 
pel, and  that  in  all  the  splendour  of  His  real 
character,  as  He  manifests  himself  to  His  chil- 
dren, and  not  unto  the  world.  First,  the 
divine  person — "  Thou  art  fairer  than  the  chil- 
dren of  men."  Next,  the  message  of  redemp- 
tion— "full  of  grace  are  thy  lips."  Finally, 
we  behold  the  perpetuity  and  blessedness  of 
the  everlasting  Gospel  in  the  ejaculation — 
"because  God  hath  blessed  thee  forever." 
"While  we  dwell,  for  a  moment,  on  these  de- 
lightful themes,  may  the  Holy  Spirit  of  know- 
ledge and  understanding  enable  us  to  lift  up 


THE    ROrALTIES   OF   CHRIST.  161 

our  hearts  to  the  measure  of  our  privileges, 
that  we  may  be  filled  with  the  love  of  Christ. 
Those  who  have  debated  concerning  the 
human  appearance  of  our  blessed  Lord,  have 
often  cited  the  text,  in  justification  of  the 
fancy  that  His  form  and  features  were  of  sur- 
passing comeliness.  But,  although  a  speculative 
argument  might,  perhaps,  be  sustained  in  sup- 
port of  such  a  secondary  conception  of  the 
psalmist,  we  have  higher  w^arrant  for  under- 
standing these  expressions,  as  we  do  many 
similar  eulogies  in  the  Canticles,  as  referring 
primarily,  to  the  everlasting  Word,  in  the 
original  splendorus  of  His  person,  before  the 
Incarnation.  It  seems  congruous  indeed,  with 
what  we  know  of  the  loveliness  and  attrac- 
tions of  the  holy  child,  to  suppose  that  the 
features  of  His  humanity  were  such  as  helped 
to  win  favour  with  men,  as  we  feel  sure  that 
they  must  have  been  full  of  that  heavenly  ex- 
pression which  attested  the  favour  of  God.  And 
yet,  so  soon  as  He  began  to  work  the  work  of 
His  Father,  and  to  testify  of  men  that  their 
works  are  wicked,  He  began  to  be  the  Man  of 
sorrows,  on  whose  brow  the  labours  of  redemp- 
tion plowed  deep  furrows,  and  from  whose 
cheek  they  wore  away  the  hues  of  youth  be- 
fore His  prime.     The  Jews  said  to  Him,  when 


162  THE   ROYALTIES   OF   CHRIST. 

He  was  little  more  than  thirty,  "  Thou  art  not 
yet  fifty  years  old/'  and  they  seem  to  have 
looked  impudently  into  His  face,  and  closely 
estimated  His  years,  by  His  appearance.  It  was 
not  long  before  "  His  visage  was  so  marred  more 
than  any  man,  and  His  form  more  than  the 
sons  of  men  5"  and  we  are  sure  from  the  identi- 
fying tokens  prescribed  by  prophecy,  that  He 
had  no  form  nor  comeliness,  and  that,  when  they 
saw  Him,  He  had  no  beauty  that  they  should 
desire  Him.  He  was  worn  with  the  griefs  He 
had  borne  for  others,  and  men  hid  their  faces 
from  Him,  as  one  smitten  of  God,  and  afflicted. 
Whatever  may  have  been  His  infantile  beauty, 
He  had  grown  up  before  the  Lord  as  a  tender 
plant,  and  as  a  root  out  of  dry  ground.  He 
who  giveth  to  all  their  food,  had  withered  in 
His  flesh,  for  lack  of  nourishment;  His  fare 
had  been  scanty,  and  He  had  been  often  with- 
out a  place  to  lay  His  head.  And  the  touch- 
ing language  of  the  prophet  goes  on  to  inti- 
mate, that  though  His  beauty  was  thus  worn 
away,  like  that  of  some  delicate  and  unwatered 
flower,  because  He  had  loaded  Himself  with  our 
sorrows,  and  taken  our  chastisements  upon  Him, 
He  was  supposed,  meanwhile,  to  be  smitten 
for  some  fault  of  His  own.  God  had  "  put  Him 
to  grief" — He  was  a  man  stricken  for  His  own 


THE   ROYALTIES  OF   CHRIST.  163 

ill-deserts ;  He  was  despised  and  we  esteemed 
Him  not.  So  much  then  is  ascertained,  that  the 
tokens  of  His  Messiahship  were  the  reverse 
of  attractive.  No  halo,  like  that  with  which 
painters  encircle  Him,  was  visible  to  the  Jews; 
and  we  know,  with  moral  certainty,  that  there 
was  nothing  in  the  Son  of  David  to  give  any 
fictitious  currency  to  His  claims,  as  the  pro- 
mised Shiloh,  to  whom  belonged  the  sceptre  of 
Judah.  On  the  contrary.  His  reputed  parent- 
age gets  Him  the  name  of  the  carpenter's  son; 
His  early  home  fastens  upon  Him  the  oppro- 
brious epithet  of  the  Nazarene ;  the  objects  of 
His  mercy  become  a  cause  of  reproach  to  Him 
the  friend  of  publicans  and  sinners ;  His  chosen 
disciples  are  made  an  objection  to  His  preten- 
sions, as  compared  with  the  Pharisees  and 
rulers,  who  refuse  to  acknowledge,  what  those 
illiterate  fishermen,  and  Galileans,  alone  appear 
to  espouse ;  and  when  Herod  clothes  Him  in  a 
gorgeous  robe,  the  point  of  the  mockery  seems 
to  consist  in  the  utter  contrast  presented  by 
His  meek  and  suffering  exterior,  to  that 
divinity  of  kings,  which  resides  in  a  proud 
bearing,  and  a  well-favoured  person.  Herod, 
therefore,  with  his  men  of  war,  set  Him  at 
nought :  they  scorn  such  a  wearer  of  impe- 
rial purple,  and  finish  their  inventions  of 
14* 


164  THE   ROYALTIES   OF   CHRIST. 

contempt,  bj  completing  His  regalia,  with  the 
sceptre  of  reed,  and  the  crown  of  thorns. 
"  Behold  the  man."  To  faith,  He  is  as  glorious, 
as  to  unbelief,  He  is  the  very  scorn  of  men. 
Yes,  these  are  His  attractions ;  these  His  chief 
glories  1  This  is  He  who  is  "  fairer  than  the 
children  of  men,"  and  never  more  so  than  at 
such  a  time.  This  is  He  who,  down  to  the 
very  dust  of  death,  and  even  when  laid  in  the 
sepulchre,  full  of  wounds  and  bruises,  draws 
after  Him  the  love  of  women,  and  the  strongest 
devotion  of  men  like  Nicodemus  and  Joseph. 
Their  anointed  prophet,  their  anointed  priest, 
their  anointed  king  :  "  because  of  the  savour 
of  His  good  ointments.  His  name  is  as  ointment 
poured  forth,  therefore  do  the  virgins  love 
Him." 

But  the  love  with  which  they  loved  Him 
was,  indeed,  refined  and  sublimated,  as  it  was 
intensely  strong,  and  such  was  its  nature  that 
the  same  love  has  been  the  constraining  prin- 
ciple of  life  to  millions,  who  never  saw  Him  in 
the  flesh,  though  it  has  not  less  inspired  them 
to  follow  Him  gladly,  to  prison  and  to  death. 
Indeed,  I  trust  I  now  speak  to  some,  at 
least,  who  can  say  of  themselves,  "  the  love 
of  Christ  constraineth  us,"  and  again,  "who 
shall  separate  us  from  the  love  of  Christ  ?" 


THE   ROYALTIES   OF   CHRIST.  165 

Let  them  suggest,  then,  the  true  interpretation 
of  the  text.  You  have,  perhaps,  husband,  or 
wife,  or  sister,  or  brother,  or  beloved  child, 
who  is  dearer  to  you  than  all  the  world  be- 
sides, and  yet,  is  there  not  one  dearer  than 
even  these,  because  He  is  fairer  than  the  chil- 
dren  of  men  ?  Is  there  not  a  friend  "  closer 
than  a  brother  ?"  Is  there  not  one  for  whom 
all  earthly  ties  should  be  sacrificed,  and  would 
be  sacrificed,  rather  than  to  forego  His  love  ? 
What  then  is  this  fair  beauty  of  the  Lord, 
which  His  children  behold  so  clearly,  by  faith, 
and  by  which  they  are  so  enchained  to  His 
service  ?  What  but  that  moral  beauty  of  the 
Holy  One;  those  divine  perfections  of  the 
Creator,  to  which  all  beauty  of  the  creature  is 
as  a  fading  flower  ?  Even  so,  because  in  Jesus 
we  behold  set  forth  bodily,  all  the  fulness  of 
the  Godhead.  The  divine  attributes,  in  their 
essence,  dwell  in  Him.  He  is  goodness,  He  is 
mercy.  He  is  love ;  as  well  as  wisdom  and 
truth  and  righteousness  :  yea,  and  we  love  Him 
also  with  a  divine  faculty  of  love,  because,  as 
soon  as  we  receive  Him,  He  gives  us  power  to 
become  the  sons  of  God,  and  in  some  degree. 
His  moral  image  is  reproduced  in  us.  Thus 
Christ  manifests,  and  declares  to  us,  the  Fa- 
ther; and  what  He  beholds  in  us  His  children, 


166  TUE   ROYALTIES  OF   CHRIST. 

the  Father  beholds  in  Him,  and  is  well-pleased. 
All  which  is  in  the  Father  is  in  the  Son  :  and 
therefore  when  the  Son  of  God  stoops  to  become 
the  Son  of  Man,  the  Father  proclaims  Him/airer 
than  the  children  of  men;  for  though  found 
in  fashion  as  a  man,  and  in  form  as  a  servant. 
He  is  "the  express  image  of  the  Father's  per- 
son and  the  brightness  of  His  glory." 

Such  then  is  Christ.  His  Gospel,  and  His 
essential  character  as  the  Word  of  God,  are 
both  eulogized  in  the  expression,  full  of  grace 
are  thy  lips.  I  have  already  directed  atten- 
tion to  the  testimony  of  even  His  enemies, 
as  to  the  persuasiveness  of  His  personal 
preaching :  but  the  text  applies,  as  truly,  to 
the  character  of  His  Gospel  as  it  comes  to  us 
in  the  Scriptures,  and  by  the  ministry  of  His 
Church.  In  the  Gospel  for  this  day  we  are 
taught  that  He  who,  in  time,  was  born  of 
Mary,  had  an  eternal  generation  before  the 
world  began,  and  that  He  who  was  named 
Jesus  by  an  angel,  was  named,  eternally,  the 
"Word  of  God.  Now,  the  psalm  which  con- 
tains the  text,  is  quoted  by  St.  Paul,  in  the 
epistle  appointed  for  this  feast,  as  referring  to 
the  same  eternal  Word,  and  is  expounded,  by 
an  ancient  father,  on  this  principle ;  so  that  he 
renders  the  opening  sentence,  according  to  a 


THE   ROYALTIES  OF   CHRIST.  167 

criticism  which  the  Jews  themselves  allowed, 
"  my  heart  hath  generated  a  blessed  Word." 
It  is,  as  I  have  said  before,  in  one  of  its  aspects, 
the  language  of  the  Father  to  His  well-beloved 
Son,  in  prospect  of  His  Incarnation.  He  who 
is  addressed  is  the  same  "  by  whom,  also,  He 
made  the  worlds ;"  for,  in  the  Blessed  Trinity, 
the  Word  is  the  person  who  "  spake  and  it  was 
done,  who  commanded  and  it  stood  fast."  So 
too,  as  the  Word,  it  His  is  office  to  declare  or 
manifest  the  Father  to  mankind^  and  He  be- 
comes the  medium  by  which  the  world  knows 
God,  and  is  made  to  see  Him,  and  to  love 
Him.  Now  if  men  had  never  seen  God  mani- 
fest in  the  flesh,  He  might  have  been  wor- 
shipped as  the  well-beloved  of  the  Father,  in 
the  expression,  thou  art  fairer  than  the  children 
of  men;  yet  who  does  not  see  that  it  would 
have  been  a  feeble  eulogy,  and  that  its  point  is 
its  plain  reference  to  His  Incarnation  !  So  too, 
full  of  grace  are  his  lips,  as  the  eternal  Word; 
but  how  much  more  expressive  the  homage, 
when  uttered  in  view  of  His  manifesting  hea- 
ven to  earth,  and  reconciling  sinners  unto  God ! 
It  must  be  regarded,  therefore,  as  addressed  to 
the  everlasting  Word,  as  the  author  of  the 
everlasting  Gospel ;  and  whether  that  Gospel 
comes  to  the  sinner  from  Christ  himself,  or 


168  THE   ROYALTIES   OF   CHRIST. 

from  His  Apostles,  or  from  those  whom  Apostles 
sent,  He  is  the  great  preacher,  and  to  Him 
alone  belongs  the  tribute  of  our  gratitude — 
full  of  grace  are  thy  lips.  Such  is  the  tribute 
which  reaches  His  throne  of  glory  this  day, 
from  thousands  of  grateful  hearts  who  rejoice 
in  Him  as  their  strength  and  their  Redeemer. 
As  sinners  it  is  grace  that  we  need,  and  He  is 
full  of  grace  in  the  words  which  He  speaks  to 
sinners ;  He  alone  "  hath  the  w^ords  of  eternal 
life."  Yes,  brethren,  full  of  grace,  even  when 
we  seem  only  to  hear  of  Him  by  the  hearing 
of  the  ear,  but,  oh !  how  gracious  when  at 
times  of  special  need.  He  comes  to  us  in  His 
word  and  ordinances,  and  manifests  Himself  to 
us  as  He  does  not  unto  the  world,  and  enables 
our  faith  to  exclaim — '^  Now  mine  eye  seeth 
Thee."  Poor  Job,  fainting  like  Lazarus  upon 
the  hard  couch  of  his  beggary,  or  sitting  in 
sackcloth  and  ashes  amid  the  ruins  of  his 
former  prosperity,  could  say  with  rapture,  "  I 
know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth,"  though  he 
knew  Him  only  in  the  dim  prospect,  and  by  a 
faith  that  moved  mountains;  and  we  who 
know  Him  as  revealed  in  the  Gospel,  and  who 
with  only  a  little  faith  can  behold  Him  so  dis- 
tinctly in  all  His  fair  beauty,  even  we  can  never 
60  fully  understand  how  full  of  grace  are  his 


THE   ROYALTIES   OF   CHRIST.  169 

lips,  as  when,  in  the  extremity  of  human  want, 
our  blessed  experience  has  found  Him,  indeed, 
"  mighty  to  save."  It  is  when  we  feel  our  sins, 
and  yearn  for  pardon  and  renewal,  that  His 
words  are  pleasant  words.  And  oh !  in  sorrow 
and  bereavement,  and  when  we  are  sick  of  a 
world  that  is  vanity ;  or,  in  the  prospect  of 
death,  when  we  turn  our  pale  faces  to  the  wall 
and  find  how  vain  is  the  help  of  man ;  then, 
when  His  word  is  tried  unto  the  uttermost, 
how  do  His  servants  love  it !  How  great  is  the 
power  of  the  Gospel,  when  nothing  else  is 
strong ;  how  sweet  when  all  beside  is  bitter- 
ness !  How  full  of  grace  are  the  lips  of  the 
Good  Physician  who  only  can  say — "  thy  sins 
are  forgiven  thee,"  or — "  thy  brother  shall  rise 
again,"  or — "  to-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in 
Paradise !" 

And  now  let  us  dwell  a  moment  on  the 
blessed  truth  that  tliis  comfortable  Gospel  of 
Christ,  is  "the  everlasting  Gospel."  The 
angel  whom  St.  John  beheld  in  the  heavens, 
proclaimed  it  such,  as  he  bore  it,  on  his 
mighty  wings,  through  the  universe.  It  was 
as  the  Great  Missionary,  therefore,  that  the 
Father  said  unto  the  Son:  "Good  luck  have 
thou  with  thine  honour,"  and  thus  blessed  him 
forever  in  His  work,  as  the  Prophet,  Priest,  and 


170  THE    ROYALTIES    OF    CHRIST. 

King  of  the  Israel  of  God.  Furthermore,  as  the 
Father  sent  the  Son,  so  the  Son  has  sent 
the  Spirit  to  abide  with  us  forever,  and  His 
ministers  to  preach  His  Gospel  to  every  crea- 
ture. Thus  His  word  endureth  forever,  and  is 
blessed  of  the  Father,  to  "prosper  in  that 
whereunto  He  sent  it."  His  kingdom  shall 
have  no  end.  It  is  to  accomplish  the  work 
which  He  undertook  in  becoming  man ;  it  is  to 
become  a  great  mountain  and  fill  the  whole 
earth.  In  vain,  my  brethren,  do  men  invent 
a  new  Gospel,  or  strive  •to  supplant  the  old. 
Whatever  is  to  be  done  for  mankind,  as  sinners, 
and  as  blind  and  needy  mortals,  is  to  be  done 
through  Jesus  Christ,  and  by  the  efficacy  of 
His  atoning  cross.  The  event  which  we  are 
now  celebrating  is  not  one  which,  by  any  pos- 
sibility, can  prove  a  failure.  Heaven  and 
earth  shall  pass  away,  but  not  this  word  which 
we  preach  ;  and  we  may  rejoice,  as  we  keep 
the  feast,  in  the  fullest  assurance  that  all  the 
world  will  sooner  or  later  know  Immanuel,  and 
adore  Him,  in  the  same  psalms  and  hymns,  and 
with  the  same  Eucharistic  sacrifice,  in  which 
we  show  forth  His  birth,  and  His  death,  this 
day.  For,  let  us  recall  the  psalm  of  which  the 
text  is  part,  and  which  is  the  charter  of  His 
universal  supremacy.     While   it  offers  terms 


THE    ROYALTIES    OF    CHRIST.  171 

even  to  rebels,  and  proposes  a  long  truce,  that 
they  may  be  conciliated  and  won  over  to  the 
kingdom,  it  is  not  less  plain  that  it  gives  a 
rod  of  iron  to  the  Son  of  God,  invests  Him  as  a 
conqueror,  and  ordains  that  His  enemies  shall 
lick  the  dust.  This  royal  babe  is  girded  with 
a  sword,  and  His  arrows  are  very  sharp. 
Against  Him  the  kings  of  the  earth  may  stand 
up,  and  the  rulers  take  counsel  together,  but 
the  Lord  hath  sworn  and  will  not  repent ;  the 
heathen  shall  be  His  inheritance,  and  the 
utmost  part  of  the  earth  His  possession ;  unto 
Him  every  knee  shall  bow,  and  every  tongue 
shall  confess.  Be  wise  now,  therefore,  and 
''  kiss  the  Son." 

My  brethren,  the  spirit  of  this  whole  psalm, 
as  of  the  festival  of  Christmas  itself,  is  that  of 
warm  affection  to  Christ  personally,  and  of 
attachment  to  His  cause  and  kingdom,  the  most 
devoted  and  profound.  In  all  false  Gospels, 
and  in  all  refinements  upon  the  Gospel  as  it  is, 
it  is  observable  that  men  continually  take  away 
the  personal  Jesus,  and  dress  up  some  ab- 
straction, or  speculation,  of  their  own,  and  set 
it  forth  as  the  essence  of  true  religion.  But 
read  the  four  Evangelists  !  They  simply  dis- 
play the  Master,  and  allow  Him  to  draw  the 
heart  to  Himself  with  the  bands  of  His  love. 

15 


172  THE   ROYALTIES   OF   CHRIST. 

Nor  do  the  epistles  less  present  us  with  the 
personal  Messiah.  There  is  the  same  Jesus,  in 
every  argument  of  St.  Paul.  Yet  you  shall 
travel  through  long  and  weary  essays  which 
claim  to  be  evangelical,  and  alas !  no  Christ  ! 
You  shall  find  whole  systems  claiming  to  be 
Christian,  from  which  everything  is  obliterated 
and  put  away  with  scorn,  that  can  possibly 
associate  the  life  of  Christ,  with  the  life  of 
man,  or  make  the  great  facts  of  the  Gospel  the 
living  principle  of  every  heart,  that  heeds  it. 
Now  what  is  the  effect  of  this  abstract  Christi- 
anity on  the  religion  of  the  age?  Without 
impeaching  the  sincerity  of  thousands  who 
confess  Christ,  with  no  definite  ideas  of  His 
person,  or  His  kingdom,  who  can  fail  to  remark 
the  unloving  temper  of  modern  piety,  and  its 
cold  and  calculating  tone  ?  Where  is  that  re- 
ligion of  the  purified  affections  which  charac- 
terized the  saints  of  old?  Who  loves  his 
Saviour  more  than  father  and  mother?  Who 
feels  for  His  truth  as  for  something  inestimably 
precious,  against  which  he  cannot  brook  an  in- 
sult, or  bear  a  lie?  Who  dares,  now,  to  say,  in 
the  sense  which  Scripture  suggests  to  us,  ^^  Do 
not  I  hate  them  that  hate  thee,  oh  Lord?" 
And  yet  such  is  the  spirit  of  the  psalm  of 
which  the  text  is  part,  and  we  cannot  utter 


THE   ROYALTIES   OF   CHRIST.  173 

it  sincerely,  unless  such  are  our  sentiments  of 
devotion  to  Christ.  Is  it  then,  a  sentiment 
at  war  with  Charity?  On  the  contrary,  'tis 
the  sentiment  of  Charity  itself,  which  "rejoiceth 
in  the  triUh!'  In  a  word,  'tis  the  sentiment  of 
ennobling  loyalty  to  Messiah's  crown.  If  I 
mistake  -not  the  spirit  of  the  Christian  religion, 
it  is  the  love  of  Christ — the  love  of  Christ, 
personally ;  the  love  of  Christ,  exclusively,  and 
against  all  pretenders;  the  love  of  Christ, 
through  good  report  and  evil  report,  as  the  con- 
straining principle  of  life  and  death.  Now  it 
was  in  this  spirit  of  whole-souled  devotion,  that 
a  good  man  once  said  he  loved  a  good  hater  ;  he 
loved,  that  is,  a  man  whose  principles  are  un- 
selfish, and  who  could  so  identify  himself  with 
what  he  believed,  as  to  feel  personal  wrong  and 
outrage  when  it  is  unjustly,  or  cruelly  attacked. 
Now  I  will  not  say  that  no  Christian  is  devoid 
of  this  generous  and  ardent  devotion  to  his 
Master  personally,  for  I  have  known  Christians 
cast  in  such  a  mould,  that  not  even  grace 
itself  seemed,  much,  to  exalt  them  above  men 
whose  pulse  never  quickens  with  a  generous 
emotion,  and  whose  eye  never  glistens  witli 
an  unselfish  tear.  But  I  do  say,  shame  on  a 
Christian  who  cannot  tell  what  it  is  to  hate  the 
enemies  of  his  Master  as  enemies,  while  he 


174  THE   ROYALTIES  OF   CHRIST. 

loves  them  as  blood-bought  souls,  whom  he 
would  not  injure  for  a  world,  but  for  whom  he 
would  sacrifice  great  things  to  do  them  good ! 
Yes,  shame  on  the  believer,  who  is  so  blood- 
less at  heart,  and  so  faint  of  head,  that  he 
cannot  understand  what  it  is  to  feel  a  holy  in- 
dignation against  misbelief  and  blasphemy; 
who,  in  short,  is  indifferent  to  what  men  say 
of  his  Master,  or  to  the  malice  and  hatred  with 
which  they  crucify  Him  afresh^  and  rail  against 
His  Cross  and  Crown!  True  he  must  not 
mistake  a  spirit  of  intolerance  and  retaliation 
for  this  spirit  of  love  to  Christ.  The  loyalty 
which  I  commend  does  not  call  down  fire  from 
heaven  upon  Christ's  enemies ;  but,  rather,  it 
heaps  live  coals  on  their  heads,  in  works  of 
charity  and  mercy,  and  then  finds  vent  in 
uttering  before  Christ,  out  of  a  good  and  true 
heart,  such  words  of  burning  zeal  for  Him,  and 
for  His  kingdom,  as  the  text  puts  into  our 
mouths.  Alas  !  to  many  a  man  such  words  are 
words  of  unmeaning  adulation  :  and  that  is  the 
fact  which  I  lament,  for  it  betrays  the  cold- 
ness, and  the  deadness,  which  I  am  endeavouring 
to  rebuke.  What  a  great  statesman  once  said 
of  modern  society  is  too  true  of  the  Church 
itself  The  age  of  high  and  noble  sentiment 
It   is   the   age   of    calculators   and 


THE   ROYALTIES   OF    CHRIST.  175 

economists,  in  religion.  Men  are  Christians 
according  as  it  will  pay.  They  go  about  ready 
to  strike  hands  with  Christ's  enemies,  if 
only  they  may  have  their  price.  There  are 
some  who  call  themselves  Christians,  w^hose 
whole  life  seems  reduced  to  a  poor  apology  for 
professing  his  name;  whose  sordid  habits,  and 
mean  affections,  seem  always  ready  to  set  their 
faith  at  sale  ;  whose  very  countenances  have 
contracted  a  shrivelling  from  their  souls,  and 
whose  conduct,  in  every  emergency  that  tries 
their  character,  seems  to  say — "  what  will  ye 
give  me,  and  I  will  betray  Him  unto  you."  I 
know  alas !  that  a  nobler  and  truer  Christian 
may  sometimes  greatly  err.  How  great  was 
St.  Peter's  fall ;  and  yet  how  different  from  the 
fall  of  Judas  !  Peter  had  his  faults,  was  over 
confident  and  rash.  He  could  strike  a  rash 
blow,  and  he  could  forget  himself,  oh,  how 
horribly !  how  all  but  fatally !  The  saving  thing 
in  such  a  character  is,  that  it  cannot,  delibe- 
rately, deny  the  Lord.  It  cannot  become  a 
traitor  for  a  piece  of  money.  It  cannot  sell  the 
Lord  of  Glory  for  silver.  And  then,  when  it 
comes  to  itself,  the  awful  reaction  is  genuine 
penitence,  and  not  mere  remorse.  Judas  hangs 
himself  on  his  gallows;  but  poor,  humbled  Peter 
comes  back  again  to  his  Master,  clasps  His  feet, 

15* 


176  THE    ROYALTIES   OF   CHRIST. 

and  with  streaming  eyes  exclaims — Tliou  hnow- 
est  that  Hove  tliee:  yes^  and  then  goes  forth,  and 
takes  up  his  cross,  and  dies  for  Jesus,  redeem- 
ing his  pledge  at  last — "  Lord  I  am  ready  to 
go  with  Thee,  both  unto  prison,  and  to  death." 
Oh,  apart  from  those  infirmities  which  Scrip- 
ture sets  before  us,  for  a  warning,  would  God 
the  spirit  of  ardent,  loyal,  penitent  Feter^ 
were  the  S23irit  of  the  Church,  once  more !  I 
conjure  you,  brethren,  if  you  are  Christians,  be 
Christians,  with  a  soul.  If  you  fail  of  this, 
you  catch  not  the  spirit  of  this  feast,  which  is 
the  spirit  of  the  text ;  the  spirit  of  heartfelt 
homage,  and  profound  personal  love,  to  the 
holy  Child  ;  the  spirit  of  Mary  when  she  said, 
"my  soul  doth  magnify  the  Lord,  and  my 
spirit  hath  rejoiced  in  God  my  Saviour." 

You,  then,  who  are  now  about  to  surround 
this  holy  altar,  see  that  you  bring  hearts  to 
your  Saviour,  as  well  as  words,  and  bended 
knees  1  Come,  as  those  wise  men  came  who 
sought  Him,  diligently,  from  a  far-off  land, 
bringing  their  caskets  full  of  fragrance  and  of 
tribute.  Come,  as  those  shepherds  came,  who 
returned  praising  and  blessing  God.  Come,  as 
king  David  came,  when  in  the  Spirit  he  indited 
this  glorious  ode,  worshipping  his  own  Son,  ac- 
cording to  the  flesh,  and  desirhig  to  see  Ilim,  as 


THE   ROYALTIES  OF   CHRIST.  177 

the  true  Solomon,  the  Prince  of  Peace,  while  he 
inaugurated  Messiah's  empire  in  the  prophetic 
words — "  Gird  thee  with  thy  sword  upon  thy 
thigh,  oh  thou  most  Mighty,  according  to  thy 
worship  and  renown.  Thy  seat,  oh  God!  en- 
dureth  forever ;  the  sceptre  of  thy  kingdom  is 
a  right  sceptre.  I  will  remember  thy  name 
from  one  generation  to  another,  therefore  shall 
the  people  give  thanks  unto  thee,  world  with- 
out end." 


SEEMON    IX. 


CHRIST    BEFORE    THE    INCARNATION. 


SUNDAY    AFTER    CHRISTMAS. 


No   MAN  HATH  SEEN    GoD  AT    ANY   TIME  ;     THE    ONLY  BEGOTTEN  SON, 
WHICH  IS    IN  THE    BOSOM   OF    THE    FATHER,    He    HATH    DECLAKED 

Him.— St.  John,  4.  18. 

There  is  no  key  to  the  Scriptures  like  the 
creed.  He  who  reads  them,  without  that 
assistance  which  is  derived  from  a  knowledge 
of  the  faith,  must  often  find  himself  involved 
in  inextricable  confusion.  For  the  Scriptures 
are  to  be  read  and  searched,  indeed,  in  the 
spirit  of  the  noble  Bereans.  But  how  did  the 
Bereans  search  them?  As  believers,  or  as 
mere  inquirers  ?  First,  ''  they  received  the 
word  with  all  readiness  of  mind,"  from  the  testi- 
mony of  the  Apostles;  and  then,  with  the 
great  outline  of  Christian  doctrine  in  their 
hearts,  they  explored  the  Scriptures,  "  whether 
these  things  were  so."  They  compared  the 
(US) 


CHRIST   BEFORE    THE   INCARNATION.        179 

Apostolic  Creed  with  the  Law  and  the  Pro- 
phets ;  delightedly  perceiving  a  harmony,  and 
a  clearness  of  evidence,  which  they  must 
otherwise  have  failed  to  detect;  and  so,  their 
faith  was  strengthened ;  and  to  faith  was 
added  manliness ;  and  to  manliness,  knowledge. 
It  is  a  recognized  part  of  the  Christian  system, 
that  we  should  first  learn  "  all  the  articles  of 
the  Christian  faith  as  contained  in  the  Apostles' 
creed,"  and  then,  by  a  life-long  study  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  "  know  the  certainty  of  those 
things  wherein  we  have  been  catechized." 

I  am  at  loss  to  ijnagine  how  any  one,  en- 
tirely ignorant  of  the  faith,  as  to  the  blessed 
Trinity,  could  gain  any  idea  from  the  text, 
that  should  not  conflict  with  innumerable  other 
Scriptures,  and  make  war  with  the  simplest 
facts  of  the  Gospel.  It  is  in  fact,  the  strongest 
evidence  of  that  fundamental  verity  of  our 
holy  religion,  that,  once  apprehended,  it  gives 
unity  and  harmony  to  the  entire  Scriptures, 
and  shows  the  Law,  and  the  Prophets,  and  the 
Gospels,  to  be  woven,  in  their  divers  shades 
and  colours,  upon  one  strong  warp  of  doctrine, 
which  everywhere  underlies  the  pattern,  though 
it  may  be  altogether  concealed  in  one  part, 
while,  in  another,  the  great  design  of  the 
fabric  requires  that  it  should  appear. 


180        CHRIST   BEFORE    THE   INCARNATION. 

Now  the  text  can  be  understood  on  these 
principles  only;  for  there  is,  at  least,  a  two- 
fold difficulty  to  be  met,  which  can,  in  no 
other  imaginable  way,  be  overcome.  First,  it 
asserts  that  no  man  ever  saw  God  at  any  time; 
but  second,  it  declares  that  the  only  begotten  Son 
is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  and  has  fully 
manifested,  expounded,  or  declared  Him  to  the 
world.  It  will  be  allowed  that  the  only  begotten 
Son  here  intended  is  the  Son  of  Man  and  that 
He  is,  and  was,  very  man.  There  is  a  difl5- 
culty  then,  in  the  factj  that  while  one  who  is 
perfect  man,  is,  in  the  one  member  of  the 
sentence,  declared  to  be  in  the  very  bosom  of 
the  Father,  the  preceding  portion  of  the  i^^i, 
declares  as  certainly,  that  "  no  man  hath  seen 
God  at  any  time."  Nor  will  an  inspection  of 
the  original  assist  us,  at  all,  in  the  diflBculty, 
since  it  seems  rather  to  increase  it,  by  the  in- 
timation that  whiie  this  exposition  of  the 
Father  was  fully  made  by  the  Son,  in  the  days 
of  His  flesh.  He,  nevertheless,  continued  in  the 
Father's  bosom;  so  that,  at  the  same  moment, 
He  was  dwelling  with  Him  in  heaven,  and 
manifesting  Him  on  earth. 

And  besides  all  this,  we  have,  in  other 
scriptures,  repeated  assertions  that  God  has,  at 
various  times,  been  seen  by  men.     The  text  is, 


CHRIST   BEFORE   THE   INCARNATION.        181 

indeed,  supported  by  as  raany  scriptures  which 
dechire  that  God  is  invisible.  "  Thou  canst 
not  see  my  face/'  said  the  Lord  to  Moses,  "  for 
there  shall  no  man  see  my  face  and  live." 
Again,  St.  Paul  speaks  of  Him  as  the  Lord, 
"  whom  no  man  hath  seen,  nor  can  see ;"  and, 
we  are  taught  elsewhere,  that  the  vision  of  God, 
or  the  enjoyment  of  His  essential  presence,  is 
the  great  and  crowning  glory  of  the  blessed  in 
their  immortal  state,  and  that  "  without  holi- 
ness, no  man  shall  see  the  Lord."  How  is  it 
then,  that  we  are  to  reconcile,  with  these  plain 
assertions,  those  apparently  contradictory  scrip- 
tures to  which  we  have  referred  ?  It  is  ex- 
pressly said  that  "  God  spake  to  Moses,  face 
to  face,  as  a  man  speaketh  unto  his  friend." 
Again,  of  Moses,  and  the  Elders  of  Israel,  it  is 
said,  "  they  saw  the  God  of  Israel ;"  and  again, 
in  few  words,  that  "  they  saw  God."  You  will 
readily  recall  to  mind  the  story  of  Jacob,  who 
after  wrestling  with  the  angel,  and  discovering 
his  true  character,  called  the  place  Peniel,  or 
the  face  of  God,  saying,  "  I  have  seen  God,  face 
to  face,  and  my  life  is  preserved." 

But  oh,  to  the  believer,  how  clearly  through 
all  these  apparent  clouds,  breaks  forth  the  great 
Sun  of  Righteousness,  disclosing  and  illumi- 
nating all !     The  manifestation  of  the  Word 


182        CHRIST   BEFORE    THE  INCARNATION. 

of  Goj),  in  the  flesh,  incorporates  with  the 
Gospel  all  that  history  which  goes  before,  of 
the  dealings  of  God  with  man.  We  discover 
the  length  and  breadth,  and  depth,  and  height, 
of  the  Mediatorial  system,  as  including  all  dis- 
pensations, and  stretching  through  all  time. 
We  distinguish  between  God  in  the  Unity  of 
His  essence,  and  the  Trinity  of  His  personality ; 
and  everywhere,  we  see  the  Word  discovering 
Himself,  and  God  hiding  himself,  so  that,  at 
once,  God  is  invisible,  and  God  is  seen :  hidden 
in  His  essential  being,  but  disclosed  and  inter- 
preted and  manifested  to  man,  in  the  person 
of  His  only  begotten  Son. 

The  text  seems  to  be  introduced,  by  the 
Apostle,  on  purpose  to  meet  a  difficulty  of  the 
Jew;  for  as  he  had  just  declared,  that "  the  Law 
was  given  by  Moses,  but  grace  and  truth  came 
by  Jesus  Christ,"  the  Jew's  mind  was  natu- 
rally led  to  a  comparison  of  Jesus  with  Moses, 
and  to  a  preference  of  Moses,  on  the  ground  of 
his  personal  conferences  with  God.  St.  John 
asserts  the  immense  superiority  of  Jesus,  on 
this  very  ground.  No  man,  at  any  time,  had 
seen  God,  in  His  essence;  but  Christ,  the 
only-begotten  of  the  Father,  and  the  per- 
petual partner  of  His  bosom,  being  with  Him, 


CHRIST   BEFORE   THE   INCARNATION.        183 

and   continuing  with   Him,   has    alone   fully 
manifested  Him  to  men. 

In  recognizing  this  great  harmonious  plan, 
of  God's  revelations  of  Himself,  only  through 
His  Son,  we  are  led  to  a  study  of  most  inter- 
esting character ;  that  of  the  manifestations  of 
Christ  before  the  Incarnation.  For  now  we 
see  that,  though  the  great  exposition  of  the 
Father  was  made  by  God  manifest  in  the  flesh, 
all  the  revelations  of  God,  with  which  Scripture 
acquaints  us,  were  revelations  of  the  Son,  and  of 
God  in  Him,  and  through  Him.  While  we  are 
considering  the  Word  made  flesh,  it  is  at  once 
profitable  and  delightful,  therefore,  to  recognize 
Him,  as  He  who  was  before  Abraham ;  as  He 
who  talked  with  Adam ;  whom,  amid  the 
types  and  shadows  of  the  Law,  many  of  the 
fathers  and  the  prophets,  beheld  in  a  personal 
similitude  ;  and  of  whom  they  spake  familiarly, 
as  the  Angel  of  the  Covenant ;  the  Jehovah- 
Angel;  the  Angel  of  Jehovah's  presence,  or  his 
"Visible  Revealer."  The  commerce  of  the 
ancient  prophets,  with  the  God,  whose  messages 
they  announced,  is  a  preliminary,  but  im- 
portant, subject  of  thought.  When  the  Lord 
is  represented  as  speaking  to  the  prophet,  we 
understand  now  that  it  was  the  Son,  who 
Bpake ;  but  bow  did  He  thus  reveal  Himself? 

IG 


184        CHRIST   BEFORE   THE   INCARNATION. 

The  answer,  as  to  all  ordinary  cases,  seems  to 
be  given  us,  in  plain  words,  in  the  book  of 
Numbers.  "  If  there  be  a  prophet,  I  will  make 
myself  known  unto  him,  in  a  vision,  and  will 
speak  unto  him  in  a  dream."  Here  then  is  the 
secret  of  such  revelations  as  that  which  Isaiah 
enjoyed,  "  when  he  saw  the  Lord  sitting  upon 
a  throne,  high  and  lifted  up."  It  was  a  vision 
of  God,  in  an  ecstasy,  or  trance;  and  what  is 
more,  it  was  a  vision  of  the  Godhead,  as  near 
to  the  actual  vision  of  His  essential  glory,  as 
was  ever  granted.  Yet  we  learn,  from  St. 
John,  that  the  glory  which  Isaiah  then  beheld 
w^as  the  glory  of  Christ.  It  was  a  vision  of 
God,  in  Christ,  accompanied  by  that  song  of 
the  Seraphim,  "  Holy,  holy,  holy,"  in  which  the 
Trinity  of  the  Godhead  is  intimated;  and 
when  he  had  seen  it,  the  prophet  cried,  "  woe 
is  me  .  .  .  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  the  king, 
the  Lord  of  Hosts."  In  such  a  vision,  the  in- 
visible Father,  was  manifested  by  the  Son,  in 
the  power  of  the  Spirit,  who  inspired  the 
prophets;  and  by  this  memorable  instance,  we 
may  the  better  understand  the  assertion  of 
St.  Peter,  that  the  Spirit  which  was  in  the 
prophets,  and  which  "testified  beforehand  the 
sufferings  of  Christ,"  was  the  Spirit  of  Christ 
Himself. 


CHRIST   BEFORE   THE   INCARNATION.        185 

Nor  can  I  forbear  to  remark,  in  passing, 
that  he  who  will  carefully  consider  such  his- 
tories as  this,  and  compare  it,  as  I  have  done, 
with  the  apostolic  writings,  wall  be  able  to 
gather  much  evidence,  for  himself,  in  favour 
of  a  high  estimate  of  the  Scriptures,  as  the 
work  of  Inspiration.  The  Holy  Ghost  "  spake 
by  the  prophets" — says  the  Creed;  and  He 
was  "  the  Spirit  of  Christ" — says  the  Apostle. 
When  I  meditate  upon  the  conjoint  agency  of 
the  Son,  and  of  the  Spirit,  in  producing  a 
revelation  of  God  to  man,  in  the  form  of  a 
written  ode,  prophecy,  or  book ;  when  I  behold 
all  the  noble  faculties  and  powers  of  Isaiah, 
filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  for  the  glorious 
purpose  to  which  they  were  naturally  unequal ; 
and,  when  I  see  the  invisible  God,  thus  de- 
clared, or  manifested,  by  His  eternal  Word, 
before  He  was  incarnate ;  I  feel  drawn  towards 
the  Old  Testament,  not  less  than  to  the  New, 
as  a  sort  of  Shekinah,  or  Glory,  in  which 
Christ  dwells.  I  see  in  the  Law  and  the  pro- 
phets, a  pillar  of  cloud,  and  a  pillar  of  fire,  to 
the  Israel  of  God. 

But  apart  from  these  prophetic  visions,  the 
Eternal  Word  was  pleased  to  manifest  himself, 
to  several  of  the  greater  patriarchs,  and,  on  ex- 
traordinary occasions,  to  many  of  his  people 


186        CHRIST   BEFORE   THE   INCARNATION. 

together,  in  personal  similitudes.  The  great 
difference  between  these  apparitions,  and  the 
prophetic  vision,  is  clearly  expounded  in  the 
book  of  Numbers,  in  the  sequel  of  the  text, 
already  cited.  Having  declared  the  manner 
of  his  speaking  to  the  prophets,  the  Lord  dis- 
tinguishes Moses  from  an  ordinary  prophet, 
saying,  "with  him  will  I  speak  mouth  to 
mouth,  even  apparantly,  and  not  in  dark 
speeches ;  and  the  similitude  of  the  Lord,  shall 
he  behold."  Now  it  is  a  memorable  fact,  that 
these  words  were  themselves  spoken,  in  an 
audible  voice,  out  of  the  pillar  of  cloud,  in 
which  the  Lord  is  said  to  have  come  down : 
and  St.  Stephen,  in  the  clearest  manner, 
identifies  with  Christ,  the  Jehovah- Angel  who 
thus,  in  the  pillar  of  cloud,  was  with  Moses 
and  "the  Church  in  the  wilderness,"  and 
who  first  spake  unto  Moses  out  of  the  burning 
bush.  The  same,  then,  promised  to  disclose 
Himself  in  a  personal  similitude  to  Moses.  As 
indeed  He  did ;  for  we  read  not  only  of  a 
communion  with  God,  face  to  face,  in  the 
mountain,  but  also  of  a  time  w^hen  Moses 
longed  to  see  Him  in  His  robes  of  majesty  and 
glory,  and  was,  in  part,  gratified  with  what 
he  desired.  Hidden  in  the  clefts  of  the  rock, 
while  the  Everlasting  Word  passed  by,  he  was 


CHRIST   BEFORE   THE  INCARNATION.        187 

permitted  to  see  the  disappearing  trail  of  his 
Redeemer's  glory,  but  only  as  the  splendours 
of  His  presence  vanished  from  the  sight,  leaving 
the  impression  of  One,  who,  with  averted  face, 
had  disclosed  the  similitude  of  a  man,  arrayed 
in  the  light  and  majesty  of  God. 

Of  the  more  memorable  apparitions  of  the 
Son  of  God,  before  the  Incarnation,  we  may 
instance  a  few  others,  though  none  so  remark- 
able as  this :  unless,  indeed,  we  except  that 
first,  awful,  interposition,  of  the  Lord  God  in 
Paradise,  when  He  revealed  Himself  to  our  first 
parents,  at  once  to  promise  His  Incarnation, 
and  to  assert  his  authority,  as  their  Judge. 
To  the  patriarch  Abraham,  the  same  Lord  ap- 
peared, with  two  angelic  attendants,  in  the  simi- 
litude of  a  man,  when  He  announced  the  birth 
of  Isaac,  and  the  judgment  of  Sodom :  while, 
again,  as  the  Angel  of  the  Covenant,  He  came 
to  Jacob,  and  wrestled  with  him  as  a  man,  and 
displayed  His  power  as  God,  and  blessed  him, 
in  His  own  mysterious  name,  and  disappeared. 

But  two  other  special  apparitions  of  the  Son 
of  God,  deserve  to  be  noted,  as  bearing  directly 
upon  our  knowledge  of  Him,  in  the  Gospel,  as 
our  Great  High  Priest,  and  the  Captain  of  our 
Salvation.  To  show  the  essential,  and  eternal, 
royalty  and  priesthood  of  Christ,  as  the  sub- 

10* 


188        CHRIST   BEFORE   THE   INCARNATION. 

stance  of  all  intervening  types  and  shadows, 
from  the  time  of  Abraham  to  that  of  the  In- 
carnation, it  pleased  the  Prince  of  Peace,  to 
disclose  Himself  to  the  father  of  the  faithful, 
in  a  similitude,  as  Melchizedek ;  to  prefigure 
his  great  sacrifice  of  Himself,  by  an  oblation  of 
bread  and  wine;  and  to  receive  tithes  of 
Abraham,  as  the  eternal  priest,  of  whom  the 
Levitical  priesthood  should  be  but  a  tributary, 
and  momentary  symbol.  It  is  fair,  indeed,  to 
say,  that  many  of  the  learned  prefer  to  con- 
sider Melchizedek  rather  as  a  type,  than  as  an 
apparition  of  the  Son  of  God  ;  but  the  argument 
of  St.  Paul  seems  to  me,  in  the  strongest 
manner,  to  support  the  opinion  of  those  vener- 
able fathers  of  the  Church,  who  maintain  that 
Melchizedek  is  but  a  name  for  an  apparition 
of  Christ  himself;  a  similitude,  not  imperfect, 
like  others,  but  identified,  at  once,  by  majesty, 
by  sacerdotal  office,  by  days  without  beginning, 
and  life  without  end,  with  the  Son  of  God. 
The  Apostle  thus  expounds  the  story,  stripping 
it  of  those  mysterious  disguises  which  it  wears, 
in  the  Pentateuch ;  and  telling  the  Hebrews, 
plainly,  that.  His  name  Melchizedek,  meant 
only,  being  interpreted,  that  He  was  the  King 
of  Righteousness,  and  that  His  title,  King  of 


CHRIST   BEFORE   THE   INCARNATION.        189 

Salem,  was  but  the  foreshadowing  of  His  real 
dignity,  as  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

That  this  most  complete,  and  significant 
similitude  of  Christ,  should  not  be  weakened, 
or  lowered,  to  the  character  of  a  bare  typical 
representation,  seems  to  me  but  congruous, 
when  we  consider  the  unanimity  with  which  a 
less  striking  exhibition  of  Christ,  to  Joshua,  is 
allowed  its  true  import,  as  a  genuine  appa- 
rition. Joshua,  as  a  type  of  Jesus,  was  made 
to  behold  his  great  original,  in  a  manner  cor- 
responding to  that  which  taught  Moses  to 
know  his  Master,  and  to  worship  the  Great 
Deliverer  of  Israel,  as  revealed  in  the  bush. 
On  the  eve  of  his  invasion  of  Canaan,  to  con- 
quer the  Land  of  promise,  as  he  walked,  perhaps 
lost  in  solemn  meditation  upon  the  work 
which  the  Lord  had  given  him  to  do,  he  beheld, 
suddenly,  the  figure  as  of  man,  with  a  sword 
drawn  in  his  hand.  When  he  questioned  the 
apparition,  he  received  the  answer — "  as  Cap- 
of  the  host  of  the  Lord,  am  I  now  come."  It 
was  enough.  The  lesser  Joshua  knew  the 
Lord,  whose  name  he  bore :  the  soldier  of 
Christ  recognized  his  great  Commander;  he 
fell  on  his  face  and  worshipped :  "  and  the 
Captain  of  the  Lord's  host  said  unto  Joshua, 
loose  thy  shoe  from  off  thy  foot,  for  the  place 


190        CHRIST   BEFORE   THE   INCARNATION. 

whereon  thou  standest  is  holy;  and  Joshua 
did  so."  In  this  manner,  it  pleased  Jesus  to 
show  His  typical  forerunner,  what  a  mere 
shadow  he  was  of  good  things  to  come ;  and  to 
teach  us,  in  Gospel  times,  that  a  greater 
Joshua  is  marshalling  the  sacramental  host  of 
of  his  elect,  not  only  for  a  victory  over  the 
world,  but  also  to  enter  the  heavenly  Canaan, 
and  to  possess  the  eternal  rest  which  remaineth 
for  the  people  of  God. 

So,  then,  as  again,  in  the  fiery  furnace,  with 
the  Three  Children,  we  behold,  throughout  the 
Old  Testament  Scriptures,  one  walking  amid 
the  people  of  His  covenant,  "  in  form,  like  the 
Son  of  God."  Doubtless,  these  personal  appear- 
ances of  their  promised  Messiah  were  designed, 
among  other  things,  to  refresh  them  with  the 
strongest  assurances  of  His  final  manifestation 
in  the  flesh.  They  taught  the  Hebrew  to 
know,  and  to  expect,  his  God,  in  person;  and 
meanwhile  they  convinced  him  of  His  presence 
with  the  seed  of  Abraham,  according  to  His 
covenant ;  and  of  His  fidelity,  as  their  strength 
and  their  Redeemer.  They  explain  many  ab- 
rupt and  lyrical  allusions  of  the  patriarchs  and 
prophets;  and  they  give  meaning  to  many 
a  passage  of  Scripture,  which,  faith  explores 
and  delights  in,  while  to  stupid  and  stubborn 


CHRIST   BEFORE   THE  INCARNATION.        191 

unbelief,  they  are  barren,  and  unprofitable. 
Moreover,  they  constitute  a  tender  tie  between 
us  and  the  ancient  Church.  And  oh,  how 
they  illuminate  such  language  as  that  of 
Isaiah : — "  in  all  their  affliction  He  was  afflicted, 
and  the  angel  of  His  presence  saved  them ;  in 
his  love,  and  in  His  pity  He  redeemed  them ; 
and  He  bare  them,  and  carried  them,  all  the 
days  of  old !"  And  how  beautiful  it  is  to  see 
the  same  Angel-Jehovah,  whom  we  know  as 
Christ — devoutly  recognized,  in  similiar  lan- 
guage, by  Jacob,  before  the  Law,  and  by  Ma- 
lachi,  the  last  of  the  prophets.  When  the 
hoary  patriarch  was  about  to  die,  he  blessed 
the  sons  of  his  darling  Joseph  in  these  words : 
— "  the  God  which  fed  me,  all  my  life  long, 
unto  this  day;  the  Angel  which  redeemed  me 
from  all  evil,  bless  the  lads."  Malachi,  closes 
up  all  prophecy,  in  a  promise  of  His  speedy 
Incarnation — saying :  "  The  Lord,  whom  ye 
seek,  shall  suddenly  come  to  His  temple ;  even 
the  Angel  of  the  Covenant,  whom  ye  delight 
in ;  behold  he  shall  come,  saith  the  Lord  of 
Hosts." 

From  such  facts  we  learn  the  better  how  to 
entertain  the  glorious  visiter,  whom  in  the 
fulness  of  time,  we  behold  manifest  in  the 
flesh.     This  holy  child,  is  indeed  the  Ancient 


192        CHRIST   BEFORE   THE   INCARNATION. 

of  Days.  This  is  the  Angel  that  dwelt  in  the 
bush;  this  is  the  great  Melchizedek;  the  Cap- 
tain of  our  Salvation,  and  the  Lamb  slain  from 
the  foundation  of  the  world.  This  is  He  who 
is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  now,  while  He 
interprets  and  manifests  the  Father  to  the 
World.  This  is  that  mysterious  Son  of  God, 
^^  w^hom  none  knoweth  but  the  Father,"  so  es- 
sential is  His  own  divinity;  "while  none 
knoweth  the  Father,  but  the  Son,  and  he  to 
whomsoever  the  Son  will  reveal  Him."  See 
then  what  is  meant  by  the  expression,  "  He 
hath  declared  Him."  We  know  the  Father, 
who  is  invisible,  by  knowing  the  Son,  who  is 
manifested.  As  in  times  past,  this  manifesta- 
tion was  partial,  and  interrupted,  and  occa- 
sional, and  transient,  so  now  in  the  Gospel  it 
is  complete,  and  entire.  In  Christ  we  see  God. 
In  Christ,  we  know  the  character  of  God.  In 
Him  we  learn  His  essential  attributes,  and  his 
vast  plans  and  purposes  of  mercy  to  mankind. 
But,  more  than  all,  in  Christ,  God  expounds 
to  us  His  sympathies.  His  compassions.  His 
tenderness,  and  love.  Behold,  in  Him,  that 
God  who  is  indeed  great  and  terrible,  and  of 
whom  we  fail  to  gather,  in  any  other  way, 
conceptions  which  seem  fitted  to  our  nature, 
our  wants,   and   our   infirmities.     When   the 


CHRIST   BEFORE   THE   INCARNATION.        193 

blessed  Apostles  had  companied  long  time  with 
Jesus;  when  they  had  seen  His  stupendous 
miracles,  and  had  been  witnesses,  at  the  same 
time,  of  His  poverty  and  His  condescension ; 
they  had  still  to  learn  that  in  their  familiar 
approaches  to  their  dear  Master,  they  had  ac- 
quainted themselves  also,  with  the  invisible 
God.  "  Philip  saith  unto  Him,  Lord,  show  us 
the  Father,  and  it  sufl&ceth  us.  Jesus  saith 
unto  him,  have  I  been  so  long  time  with  you, 
and  yet  hast  thou  not  known  me,  Philip  ?  He 
that  hath  seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father :  and 
how  sayest  thou  then,  show  us  the  Father  ? 
Believest  thou  not,  that  I  am  in  the  Father, 
and  the  Father  in  me  ?" 

There  remains  this  practical  thought,  that 
if  we  would  know  God,  we  must  know  Christ. 
We  may  be  sure  that  just  so  far  as  we  are 
ignorant  of  Jesus  and  His  Gospel,  so  far  are  we 
strangers  to  our  Maker,  "  without  hope,  and 
without  God  in  the  world."  True,  indeed,  we 
may  know  much  of  God  from  nature :  the 
heavens  declare  His  glory,  and  the  firmament 
showeth  His  handiwork ;"  yet  just  as  true  it  is 
that,  so  blind  are  sinful  men,  and  so  darkened 
is  the  face  of  nature,  through  the  works  of  the 
devil,  that  nature  alone  has  never  expounded 
God  to  sinners,  as  sinners  need  to  know  Him; 


194        CHRIST   BEFORE   THE   INCARNATION. 

and  has  never  weaned  a  single  soul  from  the 
folly  of  wickedness,  or  the  blindness  of  super- 
stition and  misbelief  The  whole  creation 
groaned  for  God  manifest  in  the  flesh ;  and  lo  ! 
the  Father  sent  the  Son.  Have  you  received 
Him  ?  Do  you  know  Him  ?  Have  you  sat  at 
His  feet,  and  learned  of  Him,  what  you  are  in 
yourself;  what  you  are  in  the  sight  of  God  ; 
and  how  you  may  be  at  peace  with  Him  ?  Oh 
consider,  brethren,  for  what  you  are  henceforth 
accountable,  in  that  God  has  thus  unfolded 
Himself  to  you,  and  condescended  to  reveal  to 
you  all  the  riches  of  His  goodness,  and  then  to 
invite  you  to  be  enriched  with  Himself,  in 
Christ,  as  sons  of  God,  and  joint  heirs  of  his 
kingdom  and  glory ! 

Nor  must  I  conclude  without  reminding  you 
that  it  was  not  merely  the  life  of  Christ  that  ex- 
pounded God  to  man.  After  all,  the  great  ex- 
hibition of  God,  in  His  holiness,  and  His  love, 
is  made  in  the  sacrifice  of  Calvary.  "Behold 
the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sins  of 
the  world  !"  Behold  that  man  of  sorrows,  the 
just  for  the  unjust,  bleeding  upon  the  cross. 
In  His  awful  agonies,  see  exhibited  the  immen- 
sity of  that  guilt,  which  God  Himself  cannot  for- 
give without  a  satisfaction  to  His  holy  law;  with- 
out a  reconciliation  of  His  Justice  with  Mercy, 


CHRIST   BEFORE   THE   INCARNATION.        195 

through  a  sufficient  atonement.  Behold  again, 
the  Crucified,  as  the  Son  of  God  ;  and  see  Him 
who  exacts  the  sacrifice,  Himself  providing  the 
victim.  The  "only  begotten  Son,  who  is  in 
the  bosom  of  the  Father,"  lo !  it  is  He  who 
thus  interprets  the  boundless  mercy  of  the 
Father,  "  in  His  own  body,  on  the  tree  !"  See 
the  immensity  of  God's  compassions ;  His  un- 
fathomable love !  Beyond  this,  the  Son  has 
nothing  to  manifest,  of  God  to  man.  In  this, 
revelation  is  complete;  "it  is  finished."  A 
crucified  Saviour  is  the  whole  of  knowledge, 
and  of  wisdom,  which  is  possible  to  man  :  and 
Christ,  known  and  believed  and  loved,  is  God 
manifested  to  His  child,  as  He  cannot  be 
manifested  to  the  world.  Blessed  Jesus  !  as 
we  know  Thee  now,  by  faith,  may  ours  be 
the  blessing,  denied  to  Apostles  themselves, 
"  Blessed  are  they  that  have  not  seen,  and  yet 
have  believed." 


17 


SERMON  X. 


PREPARATION  FOR  TIME 


new-tear's  eve. 


And  David   said  unto  Saul,  I  cannot  go  with  these  tob  I 

HAVE  NOT  proved  THEM.   AND  DaVID  PUT  THEM  OFF  HIM. — 

1  Samuel  xvii.  39. 

To  a  reflective  mind  all  periods  of  human 
life  are  solemn  and  suggestive.  The  return  of 
a  birthday,  or  of  any  marked  anniversary, 
awakens  conjecture  as  to  the  future,  while  it 
furnishes  material  for  comparisons  of  the  pre- 
sent with  the  past.  The  stern  advance  of  life, 
and,  in  middle  life,  the  visible  approach  of  the 
years  in  which  we  must  say,  "  I  have  no 
pleasure  in  them,"  force  themselves  upon  the 
attention,  on  the  return  of  anniversaries,  and 
almost  at  such  times  only.  And  if  at  such  a 
moment  of  startling  consciousness,  the  good 
Spirit  of  grace  suggests  an  enquiry  as  to  our 
employment  of  past  time,  or  moves  us  to  earnest 
(196) 


PREPARATION   FOR   TIME.  197 

resolves  of  economizing  the  uncertain  remain- 
der, the  opportunity  is  a  golden  one,  for  coun- 
sel and  encouragement.  Then  ''  a  word  fitly 
spoken"  may  be  greatly  blessed,  and  if  the 
thoughts  can  be  directed  to  the  great  business 
of  life  and  to  the  prize  of  immortality,  the 
occasion  has  been  profitably  directed,  and  may 
have  effected  the  glorious  end  of  saving  a  soul 
from  death. 

On  these  principles,  the  eve  of  New- Year's 
Day  may  afford  to  a  Christian  pastor  a  special 
opportunity  for  suggestions  and  remonstrances, 
such  as  are  always  timely,  but  which  too 
generally  fail  to  meet  with  sympathy,  or  with 
that  state  of  mind  which  is  best  fitted  to  re- 
ceive them.  It  is  a  great  thing  when  men  are 
prepared  to  feel  and  think  together,  and  New- 
Year's  Day  is  a  sort -of  common  birthday, 
when  all  the  feelings  of  one's  personal  anniver- 
sary are  renewed  in  each  individual,  so  that 
thousands  are  sensible  of  a  common  advance 
towards  eternity.  The  great  tide  of  life  moves 
so  that  we  feel  it.  New- Year's  Day  is  the  an- 
niversary which  gives  a  perceptible  unity  to  a 
whole  generation.  We  all  find  ourselves  bom  at 
once  into  a  fresh  and  mysterious  epoch  of  the 
world's  history.  We  look  at  one  another  with 
curiosity,  and  with  something  of  anxiety  too. 


198  PREPARATION    FOR   TIME. 

as  if  the  new  stage  of  existence  must  bring 
forth  something  of  momentous  concern  to  all. 
And  though  the  day  itself,  as  a  starting  pointy 
is  arbitrary  and  conventional,  yet  as  it  is  gene- 
rally received,  it  is  a  reality,  and  proves  itself 
capable  of  affecting  the  heart.  Our  little 
planet  has  fulfilled  another  of  her  numbered 
circuits  around  the  sun,  bearing  through  space 
her  burthen  of  misery  and  sin,  and  withal,  her 
glorious  elements  of  a  new  creation,  and  her 
treasures  of  faith,  and  hope,  and  charity.  In- 
imitable clock-work  !  Mysterious  dial-plate  I 
which  makes  time  out  of  eternity,  and 
measures  periods  by  which  GoD  Himself  con- 
descends to  regulate  even  things  in  heaven^ 
How  sublime  the  reflection  that  these  years 
are  all  calendered  by  the  Most  High,  and  are 
filling  up  the  limits  of  His  patience  and  for- 
bearance, while  they  are  bringing  on  the  Judg- 
ment in  its  season,  and  hastening  the  fearful 
day  when  "  all  these  things  shall  be  dissolved.'' 
Such  is  a  Christian's  foremost  thought,  but 
even  men  of  the  world  are  not  incompetent  to 
thoughts  which  connect  with  Providence,  and 
may  be  shaped  religiously.  "No  one,"  says 
poor  Charles  Lamb,  "ever  regarded  the  first 
^  of  January  with  indifference  :  it  is  that  from 
which  all  date   their   time,  and   count  upon 


PREPARATION    FOR   TIME.  109 

what  is  left."  Yes,  indeed,  and  who  can  for- 
get, at  such  a  date,  that  "  our  times  are  in 
God's  hand?"  The  reflection  that  these  suc- 
cessive stages  of  our  mortal  life  are  absolutely 
beyond  our  control ;  that  they  are  limited,  and 
are  rapidly  consuming ;  that  the  end  is  near, 
at  furthest,  and  that  beyond  is  an  untried 
region  which  has  no  limits  nor  measures,  is 
enough  to  make  any  man  serious  who  is  not  a 
fool.  If  there  be  such  a  thing  as  a  sincere 
atheist,  who  is  rational,  (which  I  do  not  be- 
lieve possible,)  one  would  think  even  he  would 
be  affected,  at  such  a  time,  with  terrible  mis- 
givings. How  can  he  know  that  things  ma- 
terial are  eternal,  when  he  feels  his  own  body 
crumbling  into  dust?  How  can  he  doubt  a 
Providence,  when  he  sees  all  things  but  him- 
self, obeying  a  law  which  implies  a  lawgiver 
infinitely  wise  and  powerful?  And  how  can 
he  fail  to  crave  some  help  from  revelation, 
when  he  feels  immortal  yearnings  within  him, 
and  yet  believes  that  every  tick  of  the  time- 
piece is  working  off  all  that  he  inherits  of  ex- 
istence, and  that  every  hour-bell  is  the  knell 
of  his  intellectual  as  well  as  of  his  material 
being?  He  cannot  deny  that  the  soul's  im- 
mortality is  possible,  and  in  that  possibility,  he 
admits  not  only  that  of  the  eternal  Spirit,  but 
17* 


200  PREPARATION   FOR   TLME. 

also  the  probable  truth  of  the  revelation,  which 
alone  claims  to  demonstrate  both,  by  bringing 
life  and  immortality  to  light. 

You  may  suppose  that  I  am  forgetting  the 
text,  but  it  is  my  purpose,  soon  to  employ  it 
very  practically.  I  have  been  embarrassed,  not 
with  the  lack  of  something  to  say  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  closing  year,  but  with  the  multi- 
tude of  matters  on  which  it  seemed  to  me  it 
might  be  profitable  to  enlarge.  It  is  a  solemn 
thing  to  occupy  the  position  of  a  pastor,  and, 
in  looking  over  a  congregation,  to  reflect  that 
if  one's  own  life  be  spared,  there  must  be  those 
before  him,  to  whom,  in  the  course  of  another 
year,  he  will,  undoubtedly,  be  called  to  render 
the  last  succours  of  religion,  and  then  to  lay 
them  in  the  grave  till  the  resurrection  morn- 
ing. One  longs,  under  the  thrill  of  such  a  con- 
viction, simply  to  entreat  men  with  tears,  to 
^'  agonize  to  enter  in  at  the  straight  gate ;"  and 
to  stir  young  and  old  alike  to  such  an  effort, 
why  should  it  not  be  enough  merely  to  repeat 
the  truism,  "this  year,  perhaps,  thou  shalt 
die,"  or  to  utter  the  Saviour's  own  impressive 
admonitions — ^'your  time  is  always  ready," 
and  "ye  know  not  what  a  day  may  bring 
forth?"    Oh  the  possibilities  of  a  single  twelve- 


PREPARATION   FOR   TIME.  201 

month !     To   some   what  eternal   changes   it 
must  bring ! 

"  Gray  hairs  are  herQ  and  there  upon  thee," 
oh  young  man;  how  long  hast  thou  been 
reckoned  young?  Have  you  not  seen  the 
first  snow  flakes  of  autumn  drop  into  the  dark 
river  and  disappear,  while  the  deep  white 
snows  of  winter  lie  long  unmelted  ?  Even  so, 
how  much  more  uncertain  is  middle-life  than 
hale  and  frosty  age !  Review  the  dead  of  past 
years.  How  many  have  died  young;  how 
many  in  full  career !  From  these  very  courts 
of  the  Lord's  house,  how  many  of  our  fellow- 
worshippers  have  passed  suddenly  away.  The 
great  summoner  is  even  now  among  us :  whom 
next  shall  he  single  out;  to  whom  does  he 
whisper  that  the  places  which  now  know  him 
shall  soon  know  him  no  more  ?  I  look  about 
me,  and  shrink  from  the  reply.  But  it  is  not 
death  alone  that  makes  the  future  fearful. 
Who  but  God  can  unfold  a  single  year's  con- 
tingencies of  woe?  How  dangerous  to  make 
even  experience  our  only  monitor,  when  events 
that  confound  experience,  and  falsify  all  cal- 
culation, are  continually  falling  out  suddenly, 
when  men  think  not !  Futurity,  like  other 
spectres,  is  most  appalling,  because  we  strive 
in  vain  to  make  out  its  shape,  and  advance  to- 


202  PREPARATION   FOR   TIME. 

wards  it,  in  the  dark.  Yet  in  fact,  it  is  no 
spectre,  but  rather  a  gigantic  reahty,  a  "  strong 
man  armed."  There  is  no  man  living  who  can 
afford  to  confront  it  without  defences  upon 
which  he  can  rely.  The  text  suggests  discre- 
tion in  the  choice  of  our  reliances,  and  such  is 
the  aim  of  my  exhortations. 

I  am  sometimes  angry  and  sometimes  sad, 
when  I  observe  the  unmeaning  sentiment 
which  every  New  Year's  day  calls  forth  from 
the  many  pert  and  frivolous  creatures  who 
"handle  the  pen  of  the  writer."  Unseemly 
trifling  often,  and  sometimes  a  melancholy  and 
heathenish  complaint  of  fate  and  destiny.  But 
even  worse  are  their  attempts  to  console  and 
counsel ;  and  almost  always  their  prescriptions 
to  the  young  are  such  as  are  calculated  to  mis- 
lead. They  moralize,  as  if  we  were  yet  in  the 
darkness  of  paganism;  as  if  there  were  no 
Providence  to  oversee  us,  and  no  such  thing  as 
prayer  to  secure  His  protection.  For  example, 
I  have  met  in  several  books,  and  have  heard 
from  several  speakers,  a  favourite  quotation 
which  appears  to  be  used  as  if  it  were  a  part 
of  holy  writ.  "  Look  not  mournfully  into  the 
past,"  says  the  writer,  "it  comes  not  back 
again ;  wisely  improve  the  present ;  it  is  thine ; 
go  forth  to  meet  the  shadowy  future  without 


PREPARATION   FOR   TIME.  263 

fear  and  with  a  manly  heart."  Now,  part  of 
this  is  mere  talk,  but  the  remnant  is  much 
worse  than  nothing.  "  Happy  is  the  man  that 
feareth  always,"  says  the  true  wisdom ;  but 
here  we  are  advised  to  rush  in,  like  fools, 
where  angels  might  tread  with  fear.  Again, 
our  dependence  against  the  future  is  to  be  "a 
manly  heart;"  as  if  it  might  not  come  in  a 
shape,  und  with  a  power,  that  should  quite  un- 
man us  at  the  first  onset,  and  leave  us  with  the 
wounded  spirit  which  none  can  bear.  Then, 
as  for  the  "shadowy  future,"  how  often  it 
takes  solid  shape  against  us,  so  that  we  cannot 
reasonably  advance  to  meet  it,  without  mis- 
givings. This  may  do  very  well  for  the  strong 
and  active,  but  what  help  can  such  counsel 
afford  to  the  thousands  who  are  disabled,  and 
faint,  and  weary,  and  to  whom  every  step  in 
life  is  attended  with  labour  and  sorrow?  Is 
this  the  whole  that  can  be  said  to  encourage 
us,  by  the  worldly  wise  ?  With  pain,  and  care, 
and  infirmity  lying  in  wait  for  us,  in  all  probii- 
bility;  and  with  certain  death,  somewhere  on 
the  road,  can  they  only  bid  us  press  on,  as  if 
blind  chance  were  our  only  god  ?  "  Physicians 
of  no  value !  miserable  comforters  are  they  all." 
When  the  stripling  David  was  going  forth  to 
encounter  the  champion  of  Gath,  his  under- 


204  PREPARATION   FOR   TIME. 

taking  was,  to  all  appearance,  a  desperate  one. 
The  mighty  men  of  the  host  of  Israel  looked 
on  him  with  pity,  and  Saul,  who  durst  not 
venture,  himself,  was  so  patronizing  to  the 
young  hero,  as  to  offer  him  his  own  royal  ar- 
mour. He  put  an  helmet  of  brass  upon  his  head, 
and  he  armed  him  with  a  coat  of  mail.  Just 
so  much  judgment  had  this  man  of  the  world, 
in  equipping  a  young  peasant,  fresh  from  the 
sheep-folds!  It  is  delightful  to  contrast  with 
so  much  prudent  folly,  the  wise  temerity  of 
the  young  adventurer.  David  suggested  trust 
in  God  as  his  great  encouragement,  and  related 
some  signal  experiences  of  the  past,  in  which 
God  had  proved  himself  able  and  ready  to  help 
him  in  time  of  need.  In  this  reliance  he  was 
not  afraid  to  encounter  Goliath,  with  such 
simple  weapons  as  he  had  been  used  to,  in  for- 
mer times.  As  for  the  royal  armour,  he  tried 
it  on,  in  obedience  to  the  king,  and  he 
"  assayed  to  go  in  it."  But  of  what  use  to  him 
was  that  showy,  but  burthensome  outside? 
How  would  it  help  him  in  attacking  a  giant 
whose  spear  was  as  a  weaver's  beam?  He 
wisely  judged  that  Despair  is  best  encountered 
with  other  weapons  than  such  as  he  carries 
himself.  And  David  said  unto  Saul  I  cannot 
go  with  these,  for  Ilmvenot  'proved  them. 


PREPARATION   FOR   TIME.  205 

The  late  Bishop  Heber,  of  beloved  memory,  ^ 
has  a  sermon  on  the  fear  of  death,  in  which  he 
admirably  demonstrates  the  vanity  of  all 
worldly  maxims  for  overcoming  it.  He  re- 
marks that  such  fears  generally  increase  upon 
us  in  proportion  as  they  are  attacked  with  a 
resolution  to  treat  them  philosophically.  The 
same  may  be  said  with  respect  to  anxieties 
about  what  men  call  fate,  or  fortune.  It  is 
idle  to  suggest  that  misfortune  is  the  lot  of 
thousands  ?  How  does  that  comfort  me  ?  Or, 
to  relate  the  story  of  others  who  have  suffered ; 
what  can  that  avail  ?  Or  to  quote  sentimental 
lamentations  over  mortal  sorrow;  or  to  mutter 
melancholy  poetry,  as  so  many  do,  in  condo- 
lence with  heart-sick  mourners :  what  does  it 
all  amount  to?  Worse  than  all  are  those 
maxims  of  old  heathen  philosophy,  and  those 
examples  of  Roman  stoicism,  which  are  so 
often  cited.  To  a  Christian  they  are  Saul's 
armour ;  he  has  not  proved  them ;  he  does  not 
want  them.  He  knows  whom  he  has  trusted, 
and  prefers  to  go  forward  with  defences  less 
apparent  to  the  world,  but  mighty,  through 
Christ,  to  accomplish  the  warfare  of  life,  and 
to  overcome  the  world,  the  flesh  and  the  devil. 

Let  us  observe,  then,  how  David  prepared 
himself  for  his  exploit,  after  he  had  discarded 


206  PREPARATION   FOR   TIME. 

the  useless  armour  of  Saul.  "  He  took  his  staff 
in  his  hand,  and  chose  him  five  smooth  stones 
out  of  the  brook,  and  put  them  into  the  shep- 
herd's bag,  which  he  had,  even  in  a  scrips  and 
his  sling  was  in  his  hand,  and  he  drew  near  to 
the  Philistine."  He  did  not  discard  the  use  of 
means;  he  enlisted  skill  and  common  sense, 
and  adapted  his  means  to  the  end,  and  so  went 
forward.  But,  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  the 
force  of  the  contrast  is  seen  in  the  difference 
between  shield  and  spear,  and  the  sling  and 
stones.  We  shall  soon  see  that  David's  great 
reliance  was  the  name  of  his  God,  as  the  object 
of  his  faith.  When  the  Philistine  scorned  and 
cursed  him,  he  answered — "Thou  comest  to 
me  with  a  sword,  and  with  a  spear,  and  with 
a  shield ;  but  I  come  to  thee,  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord  of  hosts,  the  God  of  Israel."  I  have 
often  thought  that  it  is  an  argument  for 
David's  authorship  of  that  noble  psalm,  the 
Deus  auribuSf  that  it  contains  the  passage — "  I 
will  not  trust  in  my  bow ;  it  is  not  my  sword 
that  shall  help  me,  but  it  is  Thou  that  savest 
us  from  our  enemies."  For  again  he  says, 
"  Through  Thee  will  we  overthrow  our  enemies, 
and  in  TJiy  name  will  we  tread  them  under  that 
rise  up  against  us."  There  is  something  here, 
of  the  youthful  hero,  as  well  as  of  the  sweet 


PREPARATION   TOR   TIME.  207 

singer  of  Israel.  The  reliance  of  youth  is  cele- 
brated in  age.  It  has  been  tried  and  it  en- 
dures. 

^  We  live  in  a  land,  and  in  a  day,  of  remark- 
able enterprizes.  The  spirit  of  adventure  is 
characteristic  of  all  our  people.  To  the  young 
it  communicates  itself  like  a  contagion.  It  is 
the  lot  of  our  young  nation.  I  do  not  oppose 
it,  but  I  beg  to  direct  the  attention,  of  young 
men  especially,  to  the  great  spiritual  dangers 
which  spring  from  such  a  state  of  society. 
Life  becomes  a  scene  of  restless  activity. 
Young  men  have  little  time  to  form  their  cha- 
racter, and  to  acquire  habits  of  wisdom  and 
piety,  before  they  are  launched  into  the  world. 
They  soon  begin  to  feel  their  lack  of  something 
to  give  them  a  quiet  conscience,  and  a  hopeful 
confidence.  In  the  absence  of  true  religion, 
Satan,  in  form  as  an  angel  of  light,  is  prompt  to 
supply  them  with  stimulants  which  they  can 
relish,  and  presents  them  with  armour,  which 
he  commends  as  all  they  can  require.  In  how 
many  ways  does  he  thus  contrive  to  effect  his 
great  purpose,  to  make  men  fall  down  and 
worship  him!  And  yet,  is  it  not  surprising, 
when  one  considers  all  that  is  at  stake,  that  so 
many  should  commit  their  souls,  and  all  that 
is  most  precious  to  them,  to  the  hazard  of  bold 
18 


208  PREPARATION   FOR  TIME. 

experiments  in  religion  ?  How  can  men  who 
have,  at  least,  been  taught  their  catechism,  and 
who  have  learned  their  Creed,  and  the  Lord's 
prayer,  as  well  as  the  Ten  Commandments, 
throw  aside  this  simple  shepherd's  scrip,  to 
dress  themselves  in  the  untried  armour  of  un- 
belief, or  of  novel  theory,  or  of  anything  else 
that  would  supersede  the  faith  of  ages,  and  the 
holy  morals,  and  the  blessed  hopes,  which  the 
Gospel  alone  inspires  ?  Who  has  proved  them  ? 
The  Gospel  is  tried,  and  it  survives  unshaken, 
and  none  who  have  trusted  in  it,  have  ever 
desired  anything  else.  But  when  we  reflect 
that  every  new  year,  since  the  Christian  era 
began,  has  seen  its  crop  of  vanities  in  the 
shape  of  improvements  on  the  Gospel,  and 
that  every  year  has  numbered  the  acknow- 
ledged victims  of  such  impostures,  how  is  it 
that  folly's  flame  still  flies,  and  that  souls  still 
run  after  its  false  light,  to  choke  themselves  in 
quagmires  ?  When  I  read  of  some  new  bait 
of  moon-struck  enthusiasm,  or  listen  to  some 
unhappy  youth's  confession  of  vapid  scepticism, 
showing,  at  once,  a  self-confidence  the  most 
consummate,  and  an  ignorance  unfathomably 
profound ;  and  when  I  trace  this,  his  fault  and 
misfortune,  to  some  specious  sophist  who  pre- 
sumes to  deal  with   sin-sick  souls,  as  quacks 


r 


PREPARATION   FOR   TIME.  209 

deal  with  the  bodies  of  the  simpletons  who  trust 
^  them,  I  am  amazed  at  the  wiles  of  Satan,  and 
at  his  marvellous  success.  How  is  it  that  the 
shrewdness  of  intellect,  so  general  among  all 
classes  of  our  people,  is  found  so  often  at  war 
with  common  sense,  in  matters  of  religion  ? 
How  is  it  that  a  little  learning  proves  so  uni- 
versally a  dangerous  thing  ?  Let  me  suggest 
the  answer.  David  was  perhaps  flattered,  at 
first,  by  the  offer  of  Saul's  armour,  and  had  he 
been  less  wise  than  he  was,  in  the  fear  of  God, 
he  would  certainly  have  gone  into  the  battle 
in  that  showy  array.  So,  it  is  the  flattery  of 
false  science  that  beguiles  men  of  their  con- 
science and  their  reason.  "Ye  shall  be  as 
gods."  This  is  the  boast  of  every  form  of  un- 
belief, in  commending  itself  especially  to  the 
young;  and  few  have  the  firmness,  and  the 
faith,  when  once  fairly  drest  in  their  folly,  to 
put  it  off,  because  they  have  not  proved  it. 

But  it  is  not  only  in  contrast  with  the  silly 
creeds  of  "  philosophy  falsely  so  called,"  that  I 
beg  to  commend  to  you  the  simple  faith  of 
Christ,  as  the  true  safeguard  of  life;  for  I  see 
quite  as  many,  among  us,  who  without  taking 
the  pains  to  be  unbelievers,  are  in  danger  of 
perishing  at  last,  through  a  vague  worldly- 
mindedness.      They  keep   their  palaces,  like 


210  PREPARATION   FOR   TIME. 

strong  men  armed,  and  their  goods  are  in 
peace.  But  when  a  stronger  shall  come,  what 
then?  Let  me  illustrate  my  meaning  by 
quoting  the  confessions  of  one,  who  seems  to 
have  spoken  rather  as  the  interpreter  of  such 
characters,  than  for  himself  particularly.  "  Shall 
I  confess  a  truth  ?"  says  the  writer,  from  whose 
meditations  on  New- Year's  Eve  I  have  already 
cited  a  remark :  "  I  feel  these  audits  too  power- 
fully. I  begin  to  count  the  probabilities  of 
duration,  and  to  grudge  at  the  expenditure  of 
moments  like  miser's  farthings.  In  proportion 
as  the  years  both  lessen  and  shorten,  I  set  more 
count  on  these  periods,  and  would  fain  lay  my 
ineffectual  finger  upon  the  spoke  of  the  great 
wheel.  I  am  not  content  to  pass  away  like  a 
weaver's  shuttle.  I  would  set  up  my  tabernacle 
here.  A  new  state  of  being  appals  me."  Oh, 
to  a  Christian,  what  a  horrible  impiety,  what 
a  mournful  heathenism,  in  such  words  as  these ! 
They  sound  like  Horace,  or  some  old  Epicurean, 
among  the  Greeks;  yet  they  are  written,  by 
one  baptized,  to  express  the  real  feelings  of 
thousands,  who,  to  all  appearance,  are  Chris- 
tians only  in  name.  To  think  of  it!  "I  would 
set  up  my  tabernacle  here."  What  a  daring 
confession  of  an  earthly  mind !  Yet  blame 
not  him,  who  wrote  it,  above  others  who  only 


PREPARATION   FOR  TIME.  211 

live  it.  Such  is  the  sordid  human  heart,  in  its 
nakedness.  It  builds  not  only  on  the  sand, 
but  in  the  dirt.  It  hears  the  believer  on  the 
mount  of  God,  saying,  "  it  is  good  to  be  here," 
and  here  "let  us  build  three  tabernacles;"  and 
its  only  response,  from  this  deep  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death  is,  nay — "  a  new  state  of  being 
appals  me;  I  would  set  up  my  tabernacle 
here."  Kevolting  thought !  It  is  worse  than 
at  first,  when  w^e  repeat  it  again.  But  oh,  how 
forcibly  it  teaches  that  the  only  preparation  for 
time  is  preparation  for  eternity. 

I  have  endeavoured  thus,  to  strip  the  de- 
luded soul  of  its  false  armour,  but  I  must  not 
stop  without  striving  that  it  may  also  be 
clothed  upon  with  the  righteousness  of  Christ. 
I  see  before  me  young  and  old,  rich  and  poor, 
together,  pressing  on  to  untried  destinies,  to 
death,  and  to  judgment,  and  to  eternity.  If 
these  be  the  things  which  constitute  the  future, 
how  dares  any  one  to  live  at  a  venture,  and 
with  no  preparation  for  the  fearful  changes 
that  await  him  ?  Suppose  I  could  assure  any 
young  person,  now  before  me,  that  this  coming 
year  should  be  his  last ;  and  that,  next  year  at 
this  time,  his  name  should  be  carved  in  cold 
stone,  at  his  head,  and  the  sods  piled  upon  his 
breast;  and  that  his  condition  then  should  be 
18* 


212  PREPARATION   FOR   TIME. 

fixed  forever,  such  as  he  may  make  it,  during 
his  few  remaining  months :  would  he  not  be 
concerned  to  begin  to-day  ?  Could  he  be  oc- 
cupied with  anything  less  than  salvation?  But 
now,  even  though  you  should  survive  the  year, 
I  beg  you  reflect,  that  a  few  months  of  it  may, 
as  absolutely,  settle  your  eternal  condition,  as 
if  your  death  should  immediately  succeed  them. 
You  are  forming  your  character  for  eternity. 
Long  before  this  year  shall  close,  you  may  have 
turned  from  the  path  of  life,  forever,  and  have 
entered,  irretrievably,  upon  that  road,  of  which 
the  end  is  death. 

A  practical  word,  then,  as  to  the  good  reso- 
lutions which  you  may  be  disposed  to  form,  and 
which  should  all  be  directed  to  the  one  great 
and  definite  object  of  deciding  the  character, 
and  fixing  it  upon  the  Kock  Christ  Jesus. 
Perhaps  I  speak  to  some  who  are  a  little 
startled,  on  reflection,  to  find  themselves  far 
gone  in  life,  with  habits  settling  into  fixedness, 
but  without  any  growing  habits  of  obedience 
to  God,  or  such  as  spring  from  a  sense  of  duty. 
Yet,  how  often  they  have  resolved  to  begin  new 
courses,  and  to  form  good  habits !  Why  have 
they  so  little  succeeded  ?  I  think,  because  of 
two  reasons,  chiefly.  First,  their  resolutions 
were  vague,  and  general ;  and   Second,  in  en- 


PREPARATION   FOR   TIME.  213 

deavouring  to  keep  them,  they  did  not  invoke 
the  aid  of  Him,  "  without  whom  nothing  is 
strong,  nothing  is  holy."  Thus,  then,  men  re- 
solve to  mend,  to  be  less  negligent  of  religion, 
to  give  up  evil  company,  and  the  like ;  their 
resolutions  being,  too  commonly,  entirely  neg- 
ative, and  quite  indefinite.  There  is  nothing 
specific  to  be  done,  and  hence  the  purpose 
evaporates  in  a  mere  emotion.  Again,  the  eifort 
being  made,  and  even  well  begun,  but  the 
grand  resource  of  prayer  being  forgotten,  and 
all  being  undertaken  in  mere  human  strength, 
Satan  succeeds  in  breaking  the  plan  in  some 
minute  particular,  and  then  introduces  ex- 
ceptions, and  then  defeats  the  whole  project, 
by  multiplying  the  exceptions  till  they  become 
the  rule.  Not  such  resolutions  are  the  smooth 
stones  that  bring  the  giant  down ;  not  such  is 
the  spirit  that  presses  on,  and  turns  Satan's 
own  sword  against  him,  and  finally  treads 
him  under  foot! 

Let  him,  then,  who  makes  resolutions  on 
this  eve  of  a  new  year,  frame  them  soberly, 
and  upon  his  knees;  make  them  definite  and 
practical ;  and  go  forward,  in  the  spirit  of  self- 
distrust,  but  strong  in  his  faith,  and  reliance 
upon  God.  To  such  resolutions  let  me  earn- 
estly invite  you.     Spend  the  few  remaining 


214  PREPARATION   FOR   TIME. 

hours  of  this  year,  in  solemn  meditation. 
"  Commune  with  your  own  heart,  and  in  your 
chamber,  and  be  still."  This  night,  at  least, 
watch  as  well  as  pray.  Begin  another  stage 
of  life,  not  in  your  beds,  folding  your  arms  to 
sleep,  but  rather  in  your  closet,  bending  your 
knees  to  worship.  Be  not  as  those  to  whom 
the  first  day  of  the  year  is  as  other  days,  in  all 
respects,  save  a  few  stij&ed  reflections,  and  a 
few  heartless  congratulations;  who  "turn  a 
new  leaf"  only  in  the  most  literal  sense  of  the 
phrase,  and  mark  day-book  and  ledger  with 
the  fresh  date,  only  to  go  on  as  before.  Give 
time  to  reflection,  and  much  more  than  re- 
flection must  be  the  product,  if  we  shape  our 
thoughts  aright.  Oh,  what  a  funeral  is  that 
we  celebrate  to-night ;  what  a  portentous  na- 
tivity comes  with  the  morrow  !  In  the  solemn 
months  before  us  will  be  repeated,  without  fail, 
a  round  of  events  which  men  call  ordinary,  but 
which  are  more  important  than  they  seem  to 
be,  and,  of  which,  the  meanest  is  a  link  in  the 
chain  of  providences,  on  which  the  universe 
depends.  Such  are  marriages  and  births  and 
deaths,  events  easily  named  in  the  aggregate, 
but  in  each  particular  instance,  how  full  of  con- 
sequences !  Yes,  think  what  is  at  hand  !  New 
souls  are  to  be  summoned  into  being,  and  millions 


PREPARATION  FOR   TIME.  215 

must  expire.  Here  comes  a  bridal  train,  and 
there  a  long  procession  of  widows  and  of  orph  ans. 
Fortunes  and  failures  wait  their  favourites  and 
their  victims.  Characters  are  to  be  made  and 
lost.  One  shall  take  his  first  secret  step  into 
fatal  guilt;  another  shall  astound  the  world 
by  tlie  last  damning  crime  of  a  long  unsuspected 
career  of  infamy.  Eyes,  now  sparkling  with 
hope,  are  to  become  frantic  with  despair,  and 
cheeks,  now  rosy  with  the  hues  of  health  and 
innocence,  are  to  burn  with  the  deeper  red  of 
disgrace  and  shame.  If  such  be  the  ordinary 
issues  of  a  year,  there  can  be  no  need  of  im- 
agining the  fearful  possibilities  which  may 
affect  us,  more  deeply,  in  their  time.  It  may 
be  a  year  of  pestilences  and  famines,  or  of  wars 
and  tumults.  It  will  have  its  marked  calami- 
ties, no  doubt.  But  what  can  be  more  to  the 
purpose  of  our  present  thoughts,  than  the  fact, 
that  a  twelve-month  hence,  thousands  who  now 
care  nothing  for  all  these  things,  will  be  ef- 
fectually cured  of  such  madness;  but  alas  I 
too  late?  What  more  impressive  than  the 
fact,  that  thousands  who  spurn  salvation  now, 
will  then  be  wailing  over  their  misspent  time, 
and  crying  in  vain,  from  the  pit  of  perdition, 
for  a  single  hour,  on  earth,  as  prisoners  of 
hope! 


216  PREPARATION   FOR   TIME. 

You  theiij  who  are  yet  where  you  can  pray 
and  be  accepted,  be  wise  while  it  is  called  to- 
day ;  and,  like  the  young  shepherd  of  Bethle- 
hem, be  afraid  to  go  forward,  except  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord  your  God.  It  is  a  strengthening 
fact,  that  New- Year  s  day,  with,  us  is  coupled 
with  the  sweet  remembrance  of  the  name  "which 
is  above  every  name,"  and  which  our  Lord  re- 
ceived on  the  eighth-day,  at  His  circumcision. 
Instead  of  those  five  smooth  stones  from  the 
brook,  take,  then,  the  name  of  Jesus,  as  it 
were,  that  of  which  it  is  written,  "  I  will  give 
him  a  white  stone,  and  in  the  stone  a  new 
name  written."  Yes,  in  the  name  of  Jesus, 
take  your  stafi*  in  hand,  and  gird  up  your  loins, 
and  so  "go  forth  to  meet  the  shadowy  future 
without  fear,  and  with  a  patient  heart."  Let 
the  name  of  Jesus  be  your  Alpha,  that  it  may 
be  your  Omega  also.  Let  all  your  works  begin 
in  Him,  that  in  Him  they  may  be  continued 
and  ended :  and  so,  in  the  better  words  of  St. 
Paul,  "let  us  run  with  patience  the  race  that 
is  set  before  us,  looking  unto  Jesus,  the  author 
and  finisher  of  our  faith." 


SERMON    XL 


THE    UNCLEANNESS    OF    RICHES. 


FEAST   OP  THE   CIRCUMCISION. 


But  bather  give  alms  of  such  things  as  ye  have  ;  and  behold 
ALL  things  are  CLEAN  UNTO  YOU. — St.  Luke  xi.  41. 

By  the  rite  of  circumcision,  our  blessed  Lord 
became  a  debtor  to  the  Law,  and  undertook  to 
Keep  it  for  our  sakes.  The  Law  had  never  been 
perfectly  kept  before  :  it  had  demonstrated  the 
sinfulness  of  all  men,  and  their  common  need 
of  a  righteousness  not  their  own.  But  it  had 
waited  for  Christ  as  its  substance.  The  Law 
which  showed  others  to  be  sinners,  only  proved 
the  holiness  of  Jesus,  as  the  end  of  the  Law 
for  righteousness,  to  every  one  that  belie veth. 
As  a  test  of  His  character,  it  proved  Hi  in  a 
lamb  without  blemish,  and  fit  to  offer  Hhuself 
for  the  sins  of  others.     The  circumcision  was 

(217) 


218  THE   UNCLE ANNESS  OF   RICHES. 

therefore  a  preliminary  to  His  great  sacrifice. 
He  became  obedient  to  the  Law  for  man. 

The  ordinance  itself  was  not  Mosaic,  but 
Abrahamic,  and  betokened  the  covenant  of 
grace;  yet  it  was  foreordained  in  conformity 
with  the  entire  spirit  of  the  Law.  It  presents 
a  complex  and  most  interesting  subject,  in  con- 
nection with  the  religious  and  civil  polity  of  the 
Hebrews,  both  as  related  to  the  moral  and  cere- 
monial Law,  and  as  foreshadowing  the  Messiah 
and  the  Christian  sacrament  of  baptism.  So 
large  a  subject  cannot  be  satisfactorily  dis- 
cussed in  a  single  sermon;  but  I  propose  to 
touch  upon  it  in  several  of  its  features,  as  af- 
fording instruction  to  us,  and  elucidating  the 
relations  of  a  covenant  people  to  a  covenant 
God,  alike  under  the  Law,  and  under  the 
Gospel. 

First,  as  to  the  rite  itself  In  harmony  with 
the  severity  which  is  the  spirit  of  the  Law, 
and  which  was  requisite  to  the  subduing  and 
developing  of  a  sensual  and  servile  race,  this 
initiatory  ordinance  was  one  of  blood;  and 
though  a  trifling  operation  in  itself,  it  left  a 
life-long  mark  in  the  flesh  of  the  Hebrew 
which  was  designed  to  remind  him,  at  all 
times,  that  his  body  and  all  its  members,  were 
subject  to  Law.     It  taught  him  that  he  was 


THE   UNCLEANNESS  OF   RICHES.  219 

not  a  mere  animal,  to  whom  his  passions  and 
instincts  were  a  sufficient  rule  of  action ;  but 
that  he  was  a  moral  agent,  and  that  his  physi- 
cal and  sensual  part  was  to  obey  his  reason, 
his  conscience,  and  the  precepts  of  his  Maker. 
It  was  the  token,  also,  of  the  sanctity  of  a 
Hebrew's  body,  as  a  vessel  of  God's  mercy  to 
the  world.  It  taught  him  purity,  and  a  reve- 
rence for  all  his  relations  in  life,  as  a  son,  a 
husband  and  a  father.  It  reminded  him  that 
the  seed  of  Abraham  was  a  holy  seed,  of  whom 
the  promised  Messiah,  was  to  be  born :  and 
thus  it  hallowed  domestic  life,  and  separated, 
as  far  as  possible,  the  habits  of  a  pious  Israelite, 
from  those  of  the  profligate  and  the  brute. 
Such,  at  least,  was  its  design ;  while  it  served, 
at  the  same  lime,  to  nationalize  the  Hebrews, 
and  to  sunder  them  from  surrounding  idolatry. 
In  all  this,  there  is  a  beautiful  analogy  with 
what  we  observe  in  the  science  of  husbandry 
and  horticulture.  In  our  fallen  world,  we  re- 
cognize a  vast  difference  between  the  natural 
and  the  cultivated  plant.  The  productions  of 
nature  are  given  us  in  luxuriance  and  abun- 
dance, but  before  use,  they  generally  require  to 
be  developed  by  a  careful  process  of  training. 
And  what  is  this  process  ?  In  many  instances 
it  is  one  which  begins  with  the  knife,  and  in 

19 


220  THE   UNCLE ANNESS   OF   RICHES. 

which  the  knife  is  constantly  required,  to  re- 
strain a  wasteful  exuberance,  which,  though 
indicative  of  vigorous  life,  is  found  to  be  de- 
structive of  the  finer  qualities  of  the  tree  or 
plant,  and  injurious  to  its  fruits.  Hence  the 
art  of  cultivation  is  one  of  trimming  and 
pruning,  as  well  as  one  of  manuring  and 
watering;  and  the  result  is,  that  the  vine, 
which  before  yielded  wild  grapes,  now  showers 
to  earth  a  generous  wine,  in  the  vintage ;  while 
the  tree  whose  fruit  was  sour  and  scrubby  in 
the  wilderness,  stands .  in  the  orchard  laden 
with  apples  of  gold,  delightful  alike  to  the 
palate  and  to  the  eye. 

How  descriptively,  then,  does  St.  Paul  com- 
pare the  uncircumcised  Gentile  to  a  wild  ohve 
tree !  He  speaks  of  him  as  untamed  and  rank 
and  uncultivated,  and  contrasts  his  savage 
stock  with  the  fat  and  generous  root  of  Israel, 
which  he  tenderly  likens,  in  the  richness  of  its 
fruitage,  to  the  good  olive  tree  in  the  garden  of 
God.  But  now,  to  pursue  the  figure  of  the 
Apostle,  as  members  of  Christ,  we,  also,  are 
grafted  into  the  good  olive  tree  by  the  circum- 
cision of  baptism ;  we,  too,  are  subjected  to  the 
labour  of  the  cultivator,  and  pruned  and 
purged  that  we  may  bear  good  fruit.  Or,  to 
adopt  the  figure  of  our  Lord  Himself:  He  is 


THE    UNCLEANNESS'  OF   RICHES.  221 

the  vine,  and  we  are  the  branches,  while  the 
Father  is  the  husbandman.  "Herein  is  the 
Father  glorified,  that  we  bear  much  fruit.  So 
shall  we  be  His  disciples." 

But  the  circumcision  of  the  Jew  was  part  of 
a  great  system  which  extended  to  everything 
with  which  he  was  concerned.  Not  only  him- 
self and  his  children  must  be  circumcised,  but 
virtually  everything  which  he  possessed; 
which  he  handled,  or  tasted,  or  touched.  In 
every  way,  God  taught  the  Hebrews  that  they 
were  a  peculiar  people,  and  that  their  great 
distinction  was  that  they  and  theirs  were 
holiness  to  the  Lord.  Thus,  then,  their  flocks 
and  their  herds  were  to  be  sanctified;  their 
fields  and  their  dwellings;  their  meats  and 
their  apparel ;  their  very  beds  and  tables  were 
to  be  purified,  by  ceremonies;  and  according 
to  the  observance  or  neglect  of  these  rites 
all  things  were  clean  or  unclean.  A  holy 
people  were,  at  all  times  and  seasons,  and  in 
all  circumstances,  to  be  reminded  of  that  purity 
which  God  demands,  and  of  that  natural  cor- 
ruption to  which  the  world  and  the  flesh  are 
panders,  but  with  which  the  servant  of  God  is 
required  to  make  war. 

Now  this  ritual  cleansing  of  the  Law,  though 
God  richly  rewarded  it,  was  always  attended 


222  THE   UNCLEANNESS  OF   RICHES. 

with  sacrifice.  It  cost  the  Jew  excessive  pains, 
and  no  small  expense  of  wealth.  He  tithed 
his  whole  income ;  he  offered  burnt  sacrifices  ; 
he  paid  special  offerings  for  his  first-bom ;  he 
redeemed  the  firstlings  of  his  flocks,  and  his 
herds.  Even  the  trees  which  he  set  out  he 
could  not  use,  till  he  had  circumcised  them, 
and  dedicated  their  first  fruits  in  honour  of  the 
Law,  and  to  the  service  of  God.  Let  me  call 
your  special  attention  to  this  circumcision  of 
trees,  as  not  only  illustrative  of  the  whole 
system  which  I  have  endeavoured  to  expound, 
but  as  particularly^  important  in  its>  bearings 
on  the  text.  '^  And  when  ye  shall  have  planted 
all  manner  of  trees  for  food,  then  ye  shall 
count  the  fruit  thereof  as  uncircumcised :  three 
years  shall  it  be  as  uncircumcised  unto  you ;  it 
shall  not  be  eaten  of.  But  in  the  fourth  year 
all  the  fruit  thereof  shall  be  holy,  to  praise  the 
Lord  withal.  And,  in  the  fifth  year  shall  ye 
eat  of  the  fruit  thereof,  that  it  may  yield  unto 
you  the  increase  thereof:  I  am  the  Lord  your 
God." 

Observe,  now,  the  three  important  points  in 
this  precept.  First,  the  tree  is  to  be  stripped 
of  such  fruit  as  it  may  bear,  for  three  succes- 
sive years,  and  such  fruit  is  to  be  thrown  away, 
as  unclean,  and  hence  unfit  for  the  use  of  an 


THE   UNCLEANNESS  OF   RICHES.  223 

Israelite,  sealed  with  the  seal  of  circumcision, 
and  in  covenant  with  God.  In  the  fourth  year, 
the  fruit  shall  be  holy ;  and  hence,  as  now  cir- 
cumcised and  clean,  it  shall  be  regarded  as 
specially  fit  to  be  offered  to  God,  and,  as  the  first 
fruits  of  a  holy  thing,  too  good  to  be  greedily 
devoured  by  man.  It  shall  be  "to  praise  the 
Lord  withal."  But  "  if  the  first-fruit  be  holy, 
the  lump  is  also  holy,"  says  St.  Paul.  This 
sanctification  of  the  tree  to  the  Lord,  has  made 
it  henceforth  clean  and  fit  for  his  children. 
They  may  now  use  it,  all  their  life  long,  as  a 
blessing  sent  them  of  their  heavenly  Father, 
which  they  have  a  right  to  enjoy.  It  is  a 
bounty  of  Providence,  which  they  may  use 
with  thanksgiving,  and  without  fear  that  it 
will  turn  to  their  curse,  either  in  this  life,  or 
in  the  world  to  come.  It  is  sanctified  wealth. 
It  is  His  gift  who  "  giveth  liberally  and  up- 
braideth  not."  It  is  true  riches,  and  has  a 
blessing  upon  it:  while,  of  wealth  uncircum- 
cised,  the  text  implies  the  uncleanness  and 
sordidness.  There  is  a  prosperity  of  which  it 
is  written,  "  So  are  the  ways  of  every  one  that 
is  greedy  of  gain,  which  Uilcetli  away  the  life  of 
the  owners  thereof." 

But  again,  we  are  to  note  that  this  is  a  precept 
with  promise.     The  third  part  of  the  statute 


224  THE    UNCLEANNESS   OF   RICHES. 

runs  thus,  "  that  it  may  yield  unto  you  the  in- 
crease thereof:  I  am  the  Lord."  Here  is  an 
appeal  at  once  to  obedience  and  to  faith.  I 
who  command  this  am  the  Creator  of  the 
things  you  call  yours.  I  have  a  right  to  give 
them  on  such  terms  as  I  choose ;  and  you 
should  trust  me,  that  my  ordinances  are  wise, 
especially  when  I  add  the  assurance  that,  in 
keeping  this  commandment,  there  shall  be  the 
reward  of  a  greater  increase.  The  apparent 
tax  shall  return  into  your  own  bosoms  mani- 
fold. "  There  is  that  scattereth  and  yet  in- 
creaseth ;  and  there  is  that  withholdeth  more 
than  is  meet,  but  it  tendeth  to  poverty.  The 
liberal  soul  shall  be  made  fat;  and  he  that 
watereth  shall  be  watered,  also,  himself" 
Again,  it  is  written,  "  honour  the  Lord  with 
thy  substance,  and  with  the  first  fruits  of  all 
thine  increase :  so  shall  thy  barns  be  filled 
with  plenty,  and  thy  presses  shall  burst  out 
with  new  wine." 

The  Kabbis  used  to  say  that  an  eagle  once 
pounced  upon  a  lamb  as  it  lay  upon  the  altar, 
and  carried  it  off  to  its  nest  to  feed  its  young. 
But  a  live  coal  stuck  fast  to  the  sacrifice,  and 
burned  up  the  nest  and  the  eaglets.  So  much 
for  "  robbing  God  !" 

In  all  this  system  of  discipline,  how  entirely 


THE   UNCLEANNESS  OF   RICHES.  225 

was  the  pious  Israelite  taught  to  walk  by  faith 
and  not  by  sight.  How  rich  in  all  its  moral 
blessings,  was  the  principle  on  which,  year 
after  year,  he  patiently  refrained  from  a  greedy 
appropriation  of  the  fruits  of  his  young  trees. 
And  when,  in  the  fourth  year,  he  saw  his 
luxuriant  crop,  now  sanctified  and  holy,  how 
blessed  was  the  efiect  on  his  own  soul,  of  the 
law  which  taught  him  that  the  first  and  best 
was  too  good  for  himself!  This  year's  increase 
was  the  Lord's.  His  the  bounty,  and  His  the 
first  returns,  the  glory  and  the  praise.  This 
being  done,  with  what  a  good  conscience,  and 
pure  enjoyment,  he  sat  thenceforth  beneath 
his  own  vine  and  fig-tree,  and  ate  the  rewards 
of  his  toil  and  of  his  faith,  at  peace  with  God, 
and  in  charity  with  man  !  If  the  modern  Jew 
is  miserly,  and  unblest  in  his  gain,  may  it  not 
be  the  result  of  a  retribution,  according  to  this 
very  law?  Where  now  is  their  dread  of 
sacrilege  and  where  do  they  "dedicate  their 
tithes  with  gladness  ?"  Accordingly,  if  the 
wealth  of  a  Jew  is  proverbial,  so  also  is  his 
avarice ;  and  the  avaricious  man  is  justly  de- 
nominated a  miser  —  one  miserable  in  his 
abundance,  and  poor  in  his  riches.  Not  such 
was  the  "  Israelite  indeed,"  in  the  day  when  he 
"feared  the  Lord,  and  gave  unto  the  Most  High 


226  THE  UNCLEANNESS   OF   RICHES. 

according  as  he  had  enriched  him."  What  mu- 
nificent spirits  were  Zaccheus,  and  Barnabas  the 
Levite,  and  Joseph  of  Arimathea.  Would  God 
that  modern  Christians  might  be  compared 
with  these  noble  Hebrews!  Would  they  were, 
at  least,  able  to  say  with  the  Pharisee,  whose 
character  they  so  much  despise  —  "I  pay 
tithes  of  all  I  possess."  Alas  !  this  is  too  often 
the  chief  point  in  the  Pharisee's  conduct,  that 
is  practically  eschewed. 

Are  we  then  to  imagine  that  there  is  nothing 
in  the  Christian  system,  corresponding  to  this 
high  moral  discipline  of  the  Jew  ?  Is  the  dis- 
pensation of  faith  marked  by  no  great  feature 
that  subjects  things  temporal  to  the  law  of 
practical  confidence  in  God?  Are  we  whose 
circumcision  is  that  of  the  heart  j  who  are  not 
our  own ;  who  are  bought  with  a  price ;  who 
have  renounced  the  world,  and  who  are  called 
to  set  our  affections  on  things  above ;  are  we 
released  from  all  obligations  to  subordinate  our 
industry,  our  capital,  our  increase,  to  the  glory 
of  God,  and  to  cleanse,  and  sanctify  our  wealth, 
that  it  may  be  safely  enjoyed  ?  The  Christian 
religion  is  indeed  a  law  of  liberty.  It  appeals 
to  our  reason,  our  conscience,  and  our  affections, 
and  leaves  to  love  to  wards  God  and  man,  the  ful- 
filling of  the  law.  Instead  of  prescribing  minute 


THE  UNCLE ANNESS  OF   RICHES.  227 

rules,  concerning  the  tithe  of  mint  and  anise 
and  cummin,  it  teaches  us  to  exercise  ourselves 
with  respect  to  judgment,  mercy  and  truth : 
but  so  much  the  more  imperative  does  it  make 
our  responsibility  to  see  that  the  freedom  of 
the  Gospel  shall  bear  fruit  to  God's  glory,  at 
least  as  largely  as  did  the  bondage  of  the  Law. 
Let  us  observe  then  that  Baptism  is  the 
Christian  Circumcision,  and  as  such  the  token 
of  our  personal  subjection  to  the  law  of  Christ. 
I  am  not  saying  that  this  is  the  whole  of 
baptism ;  but  I  am  repeating  the  assertion  of 
the  Apostle  that  it  is  such,  at  least  in  part. 
Now  to  what  corresponding  distinctions  of 
clean  and  unclean,  with  respect  to  things  of 
the  earth,  does  it  bind  us  ?  Not  to  a  distinction 
of  meats,  and  drinks ;  not  to  a  distinction  be- 
tween human  beings,  as  if  any  man  were  com- 
mon or  unclean :  but  still  the  text  implies  a 
law  of  purifying.  The  Pharisees  marvelled 
that  Jesus  ate  with  unwashen  hands — that  is, 
that  He  had  not  cleansed  them  ceremonially, 
before  sitting  down  to  meat.  His  answer  was 
given  in  the  language  of  the  text.  The  law 
of  His  kingdom  is  a  general  one,  and  fitted  to 
the  whole  world.  It  addresses  itself  to  every 
man*s  conscience  in  the  sight  of  God.  It  is  no 
longer  washing  cups  and  platters,  and  circum- 


228  THE   UNCLE ANNESS   OF   RICHES. 

cising  trees :  but  the  moral  application  of  this 
ceremonial  to  all  temporal  things.  All  God's 
gifts  are  to  be  cleansed,  circumcised,  sanctified, 
and  fitted  for  use,  by  sharing  them  with  the 
poor.  Before  eating,  it  is  not  necessary  that 
we  should  dip  our  fingers  in  water;  but  we 
have  already  cleansed  our  hands,  and  purified 
our  meats,  if  we  have  dealt  our  bread  to  the 
hungry,  and  dedicated  our  tithes  to  the  table 
of  the  Lord.  "  Every  creature  of  God  is  good," 
says  St.  Paul,  who  had  once  been  a  Pharisee, 
thinking  very  differently,  "  and  nothing  to  be 
refused,  if  it  be  received  with  thanksgiving." 
But  what  is  thanksgiving  ?  Is  it  a  gesture,  or 
pious  grimace  ?  Is  it  a  mere  look  towards 
heaven ;  or  does  it  consist  of  words  only  ? 
Thanksgiving,  our  Saviour  teaches  us,  in  the 
text,  to  interpret  as  alms-giving  :  there  is  no 
gratitude  where  there  is  no  sacrifice ;  for  so  we 
come  to  the  law  from  the  Master's  own  mouth 
— Bat  rather  give  alms  of  such  things  as  ye  have, 
and  hehold  all  things  are  clean  unto  you. 

Such  is  the  secret  of  sanctified  wealth :  or, 
in  other  words,  here  is  the  only  principle,  on 
which  a  Christian  can  be  a  prosperous  or  wealthy 
man,  with  safety  to  his  soul.  Here  is  the 
difference  between  clean  increase,  and  filthy 
lucre,  or  sordid  gain.     It  is  the  difference  be- 


THE   UNCLEANNESS  OF   RICHES.  229 

tween  the  unpruned  luxuriance  of  the  wild 
vine,  that  runs  to  waste,  and  the  rich  and 
beautiful  fruitage  of  the  vineyard,  that  has 
been  freely  bled  by  the  knife,  and  trimmed, 
and  cut  away,  and  that  now  yields  abundantly 
to  the  wise  and  bountiful  owner,  and  gives  him 
enough  for  himself,  and  for  those  who  crave 
from  him  a  portion,  in  the  name  of  the  Lord. 

Look  now  for  a  moment  at  sordid  gain,  or 
wealth  unsanctified !  I  am  not  now  speaking 
of  the  extortioner  s  blood-stained  heap,  nor  of 
the  miser  s  cursed  hoard.  I  am  not  referring 
to  riches  got  by  wrong  and  robbery,  nor  to  gold 
and  silver  coined  from  the  tears  of  widows  and 
of  orphans.  All  that  is  another  thing.  I 
speak  now  of  honourable,  but  unblest  pros- 
perity; of  the  rewards  of  industry  and  enter- 
prise, gathering  increase  honestly.  It  may 
be  all  this,  and  yet  be  filthy  lucre,  or  sordid 
gain,  none  the  less.  There  it  lies,  a  great  pile 
of  selfishness.  It  has  mounted  up,  in  gross 
accumulation,  uncircumcised,  uncleansed.  It 
is  filthy,  because  it  is  defiled  by  one  great  sin, 
which  infects  it  all.  God  has  been  robbed,  and 
the  portion  that  justly  belongs  to  Him,  hes 
there,  cankering  and  corroding  all  the  rest.  It 
has  never  been  purified  by  thanksgiving — that 
is,  by  almsgiving,  by  tithes  and  offerings.  The 


230  THE   UNCLEANJSTESS  OF   RICHES. 

man  is  a  steward,  but  has  put  God's  talents 
entirely  to  bis  own  use.  It  bas  gone  into  bis 
own  beap.  How  could  be  more  effectually 
bury  it  in  tbe  eartb  ?  Bebold  sucb  a  Cbristian's 
treasure  !  All  tbat  God  bas  said  in  Scripture 
of  tbe  "  root  of  all  evil ;"  all  tbat  He  tells  us 
of  tbe  deceitfulness  of  ricbes ;  all  tbe  fearful 
warnings  He  bas  given  us,  against  taking  one's 
portion  in  tbis  present  world ;  all  tbis  is  de- 
scriptive of  sucb  a  possession.  Tbere  is  no  dis- 
guising it :  it  curses  body  and  soul ;  lies  beavy 
on  life,  and  crusbes  in  deatb.  One  bad  better 
be  a  beggar  like  Lazarus,  tban  to  be  ricb  like 
Dives.  Sucb  wealtb  is  a  terrible  misfortune. 
Wbat  will  it  avail  wben  deatb  comes  ?  And 
it  often  bastens  deatb.  "  It  taketb  away  tbe 
life  of  tbe  owners  tbereof."  And  after  tbat  tbe 
Judgment !  "  Give  an  account  of  tby  steward- 
sbip."     Ob  then !  wbat  tben  ? 

Now  it  is  no  man  s  interest  to  sbut  bis  eyes 
to  tbese  facts.  Nay,  it  is  tbe  part  of  tbe  truest 
friendship  to  direct  not  only  every  wealthy 
but  every  active,  every  young,  every  industrious 
man's  attention,  to  tbe  awful  truth,  tbat  tbe 
accumulation  of  property  is  one  of  tbe  most 
dangerous  portions  to  which  a  man  can  be 
called  in  this  present  life.  In  wbat  fearful 
terms,  over  and  over  again,  does  Scripture  as- 


THE   UNCLE ANNESS  OF   RICHES.  231 

sert  this  !  "How  hardly  shall  they  that  have 
riches  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God  !"  When 
our  Lord,  Himself,  thus  foretold  a  secret  of  the 
day  of  judgment,  He  excited  astonishment  in 
His  disciples.  His  words  and  His  manner  seem 
to  have  made  them  hold  their  breath ;  but  He 
did  not  explain  his  words  away.  He  added, 
indeed,  that  He  referred  to  those  who  "  trust 
in  riches,"  but  He  went  on  to  increase  the  im- 
pression he  had  made,  by  implying  that  such 
trust,  or  practical  idolatry  of  wealth,  is  the 
general  characteristic  of  the  rich ;  for  He  con- 
cluded by  a  still  stronger  expression,  and  one 
which,  if  I  had  riches,  I  should  wish  to  see 
daily  before  my  eyes,  in  staring  capitals,  alike 
in  my  place  of  business,  and  in  my  closet :  "  It 
is  easier  for  a  camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of  a 
needle,  than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  God."  Nor  is  this  all.  When  the 
frightened  disciples  exclaimed,  "  who  then  can 
be  saved" — He  answered  "  all  things  are  possible 
with  God  :"  as  much  as  to  say,  a  rich  man  may 
be  saved — may  love  God  more  than  mammon  : 
Grace  can  do  it;  but  'tis  a  wonderful  work  of 
God.  Is  it  not  true  kindness,  then,  to  repeat 
these  memorable  truths  to  those  on  whom  God 
has  laid  the  tremendous  accountability  of  such 
a  condition  in  life?     What  sort  of  a  priest 

20 


232  THE   UNCLEANNESS  OF  RICHES. 

would  he  be  who  should  conceal  them  from 
them,  and  help  them  to  explain  them  away? 
Who  but  the  wretched  Levite  that  smoothed 
Micah's  road  to  idolatry,  could  thus  serve 
Mammon  in  the  name  of  God  ?  Oh  if  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  true  prosperity ;  sanctified 
riches ;  durable  treasure  :  wealth  for  two  worlds ; 
has  not  the  poor  rich-man  a  right  to  know  it, 
and  to  be  taught,  while  he  may  yet  profit  by 
the  lesson,  how  to  grow  rich  towards  God,  and 
to  lay  up  treasures  in  heaven  ! 

The  text  then  should  be  regarded  as  the 
great  law  of  the  Gospel,  as  to  "so  passing 
through  things  temporal,  that  we  lose  not  the 
things  eternal."  All  God's  gifts  are  blessings, 
even  those  which  grow  from  the  root  of  all  evil, 
if  they  be  made  clean  to  us,  as  the  Hebrews' 
trees  were  circumcised,  before  they  were  used. 
The  question  arises,  can  this  law  be  regarded 
as  complied  with,  by  anything  less  than  sys- 
tematic almsgiving  ?  Are  we  to  imagine  that 
a  few  shillings  thrown  into  a  beggar's  hat,  or  a 
few  dollars  cast  into  the  basin  at  the  offertory, 
are  a  true  circumcision  of  such  wealth,  as  is 
counted  by  tens  and  hundreds  of  thousands, 
and  that  compounds  itself  in  a  geometrical 
ratio?  Is  filthy  lucre  washed  so  easily?  Is 
sordid   gain   so   quickly   purified?     Take  the 


THE   UNCLEANNESS  OF  RICHES.  233 

Hebrew's  law  of  tithes  and  offerings :  has  the 
Christian  any  reason  to  suppose  that  God's 
"  unspeakable  gift "  calls  for  less  gratitude  from 
himV  Or,  take  another  test:  can  we  imagine 
that  discipline  and  self-denial  are  less  to  be  ex- 
pected of  us,  who  are  called  to  take  up  our  cross, 
daily  ?  And  can  we  convince  ourselves  that 
we  may  safely  offer  to  God,  that  which  costs 
us  nothing  ?  Nay,  that  we  may  put  Him  off 
with  much  less  than  we  annually  throw  away 
on  superfluities?  Is  God  to  be  mocked  with 
less  than  we  spend  on  wines,  on  entertainments, 
on  toys  and  trinkets,  on  mere  show  and  sense? 
Oh,  to  think  of  it !  All  we  have  and  are  is 
His  bounty;  all  Christ's  mercy;  all  bought 
with  His  blood;  and  yet  we  lay  upon  the 
Lord's  table,  habitually — how  much  ?  What 
proportion  does  it  bear  to  the  cost  which  we 
freely  lavish  upon  our  own  tables  ? 

I  beg  you  to  search  the  Scriptures,  then,  and 
see  whether  the  New  Testament,  as  well  as 
the  Old,  does  not  exact  of  the  faithful,  a  large 
and  a  systematic  tribute  to  the  Lord  ?  In  ex- 
pounding this  law  of  Christ  to  the  Corinthians, 
St.  Paul  says,  "  Upon  the  first  day  of  the  week 
let  every  one  of  you  lay  by  him  in  store,  as 
God  hath  prospered  him."  Now,  explain  this 
as  you  will,  there  remain  three  principles  in  it 


234  THE   UNCLEANNESS   OF   RICHES. 

which  cannot  be  set  aside.  There  is,  first  of 
all,  a  sanctifying  of  the  Lord's  day  by  alms- 
giving. Second,  there  is  no  exception  to  the 
Law,  in  favor  even  of  the  poor  widow  with  her 
two  mites ;  but  every  one,  all  believers,  must 
provide  an  offering.  Third,  it  is  to  be  propor- 
tioned to  God's  bounties.  It  must  be  no  hap- 
hazard contribution,  but  a  fair,  conscientious 
representation  to  God  of  what  He  has  given. 
There  is,  indeed,  no  exaction  of  so  much  or  so 
little ;  but,  in  harmony  with  the  law  of  Christ, 
it  is  left  to  every  man's  conscience,  as  he  shall 
answer  at  the  last.  Yet  if  he  undertakes 
to  offer,  let  him  think  what  he  is  doing,  and 
remember  Ananias  and  Sapphira !  "  Tell  me 
whether  ye  sold  the  land  for  so  much  ?"  Is 
that  piece  of  silver  your  fair  proportion  ?  Does 
it  represent  your  estate  ?  Is  that  mite  of  gold 
an  honest  token  of  what  God  has  done  for 
you  ?  Would  you  tell  that  to  men  ?  Do  you 
presume  to  tell  it  to  your  Maker?  Beware 
of  the  possible  consequence,  if  so  be  "thou 
hast  not  lied  unto  men  but  unto  God." 
Brethren,  the  world  is  looking  to  you  for  the 
Gospel,  and  the  poor  cry  to  you  for  bread. 
God  has  ordained  that  it  should  be  so.  You 
will  be  judged  by  your  works.  "  Be  ye  warmed 
and   filled,"    will    not    do !     Y^e   must  '-  give 


THE   UNCLE ANNESS  OF   RICHES.  235 

alms  of  such  things  as  ye  possess ;"  and  that, 
on  system,  as  the  fruit  of  self-denial,  and  as 
unto  the  Lord,  and  not  to  men  !  Not  feelings 
and  impulses  merely,  but  principle  must  be  en- 
listed. New  habits  must  be  created.  There 
needs  to  be  an  entire  practical  reform  through- 
out the  Church,  in  this  matter,  not  so  much  for 
the  sake  of  the  gifts,  as  for  the  salvation  of  the 
givers.  If  the  Scriptures  were  not  written  to 
make  us  "  wise  unto  salvation,^  then  might  we 
flatter  ourselves  that  the  present  prevailing 
worldliness,  extravagance,  and  waste,  of  pro- 
fessed Christians,  is  consistent  with  the  hope 
of  heaven.  But,  even  then,  we  could  scarcely 
imagine  that  he  who  oflfers  his  God  and  Saviour 
less,  every  year,  than  he  devotes  to  his  palate, 
and  to  his  most  artificial  indulgences,  is  the 
man  who  is  laying  up  treasures  in  heaven,  and 
who  is  to  be  addressed  in  the  great  day  of 
account,  in  the  words,  "  well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servant." 

Yes,  brethren,  I  urge  these  things  for  your 
sakes,  lest  ye  should  be  found  empty  in  that 
day.  If,  on  reflection,  you  are  convinced  that  I 
have  sounded  a  vain  alarm :  be  it  so !  You 
will  confess  that  my  Master  is  the  author  of 
the  alarm  which  seems  to  you  so  idle,  for  in 

all  I  have  uttered,  I  have  simply  repeated  and 
20* 


236  THE   UNCLEANNESS  OF   RICHES. 

enforced  His  words.  But,  if  your  conscience 
tells  you  that  I  speak  the  truth,  and  have  dis- 
charged my  duty,  oh  !  reject  not  a  conviction 
which  the  Spirit  has  produced,  and  which,  if 
you  will  follow  it  out,  from  henceforth,  will  make 
you  so  rich  in  this  world,  and  so  immeasurably 
wealthy  in  the  world  to  come !  "  God  loveth  a 
cheerful  giver  " — yes,  and  who  does  not  ?  How 
large  a  use  of  wealth  he  has,  who  sees  it,  every- 
where conciliating  love,  enriching  others  and 
endearing  himself  to  them,  and  glorifying  God  ! 
How  such  a  stewardship  opens  the  heart,  and 
exalts  the  whole  life !  How  it  returns  into 
one's  own  bosom^  with  a  happiness  and  peace 
that  the  world  can  neither  give  nor  take  away! 
How  it  ennobles  the  very  face,  and  makes  a 
man  look  like  a  child  of  God  !  Contrast  the 
miser  and  his  hoard  with  the  bounteous  Chris- 
tian, who  sees  his  wealth  in  the  smile  of 
widows  and  of  orphans ;  who  hears  it  in  the 
bells  that  call  the  multitude  to  keep  holy  day ; 
and  w^ho  makes  it  work  his  reward  even  while 
he  lieth  sick  upon  his  bed,  in  speeding  the  pub- 
lisher of  salvation  to  heathen  lands,  and  rear- 
ing the  parish  church,  the  school-house,  and  the 
college,  among  the  rude  and  needy  population 
of  our  western  wilds !  Above  all,  contrast  the 
hollow  heart,  and  haggard  conscience,  and  the 


THE   UNCLEANNESS   OF   RICHES.  237 

blank  misgivings  of  the  one,  with  the  content- 
ment, and  faith,  and  hope  of  the  other.  Or, 
compare  with  the  true  Christian,  who  recog- 
nizes and  discharges  these  duties  to  God  and 
to  man,  the  man  who  lives  only  for  self, 
and  whose  condition  is  described  in  three 
Scriptural  comments ;  whose  god  is  his  belly, 
whose  end  is  destruction,  and  who  glories  in 
his  shame ! 

When  I  look  at  the  kingdoms  of  this  world, 
and  see  how  they  can  enlist  their  subjects,  and 
exact  their  tribute,  I  am  confounded  to  look 
again  at  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  to  see  how 
His  soldiers  slumber,  and  how  its  servants 
waste  the  talents  committed  to  their  trust. 
Look  at  the  world's  example.  An  empire  un- 
dertakes a  war,  and  millions  are  poured  into 
its  treasury,  without  grudging ;  aye,  and  thou- 
sands, peers  and  peasants,  crowd  the  ranks  as 
volunteers,  and  shed  their  blood,  and  die  in 
ditches,  with  a  spirit  that  sustains  them  with- 
out murmuring,  to  the  last  gasp.  And  all  for 
what  ?  What  reward  do  they  promise  them- 
selves for  such  prodigality  of  all  that  they 
have  and  are  ?  A  little  earth  to  cover  them ; 
that's  all,  if  they  get  that !  But  oh  !  the  Cap- 
tain of  our  salvation  is  carrying  on  a  war,  not 
to  destroy  men's  lives,  but  to  save  them.     Its 


238  THE   UNCLEANNESS  OF   RICHES. 

object  is  the  enlightening  of  nations ;  the  con- 
solation of  mourning  millions ;  the  rescue  of  a 
dying  world ;  the  overthrow  of  its  abounding 
sin  and  misery,  and  the  gathering  of  all  mankind 
into  the  fold  of  their  Redeemer.  The  enemy 
is  Satan,  and  his  hosts  of  darkness;  the 
victory  is  sure ;  its  rewards  are  eternal,  and 
every  soldier,  fall  when  he  may,  has  secured 
immortality  and  heaven.  And  all  this  we 
profess  to  believe ;  and  we  are  called  to  be  sol- 
diers of  Christ  ;  and,  unless  we  forswear  our 
baptism,  such  we  profess  to  be.  And  yet,  who 
serves?  Or,  who  sits  down  and  counts  the 
cost  of  the  war,  and  says — "  So  much  I  must 
give  to  carry  it  on  ?"  Who  offers  self,  or  son, 
or  brother,  to  the  army?  Where  is  the  Chris- 
tian chivalry  that  recognizes  something  dearer 
than  life  in  the  Master's  honour?  One  sees 
worldly  heroes,  who  have  lost  limbs  in  battle ; 
but  who,  for  Christ,  cuts  off  the  right  hand,  or 
plucks  out  the  right  eye  ?  Thank  God,  a  few  ! 
Look  at  your  missionaries !  That  gallant  band 
in  Africa  has  fought  Satan  in  the  stronghold, 
and  their  ranks  have  been  thinned  by  his  hot- 
test fire.  They  have  suffered  loss  of  all  things ; 
but  they  have  planted  the  cross  successfully, 
where  Christ  was  not  named  before,  and  gene- 
rations yet  unborn  shall  bless  them.     I  might 


THE  UNCLEANNESS  OF  RICHES.  239 

say  almost  as  much  of  others,  noble  soldiers  of 
Christ,  at  home  and  abroad.  And  what  are 
we  doing  to  sustain  them,  to  comfort  them,  to 
reinforce  them?  When  our  army  was  in 
Mexico,  did  any  one  grudge  them  the  millions 
they  required  to  feed  and  clothe  them  ?  And 
is  our  religion  so  much  meaner  than  our  patri- 
otism? .Is  it  less  our  duty  to  render  unto  God 
the  things  that  are  God*s  ?  For  it  is  not  of 
gifts  that  I  speak,  but  of  debt.  "How  much 
owest  thou  unto  my  lord  T  To-day  we  begin  a 
new  year.  Have  years  of  past  mercies  left  no 
obligations  ?  Dare  we  enter  upon  another,  which 
may  be  our  last,  without  a  deeper  sense  of  de- 
pendence, and  hence  of  duty  ?  Do  we  not  feel 
that  the  days  of  our  stewardship  are  becoming 
few,  and  that  what  remains  to  be  done  must 
be  done  with  our  might  ?  Oh  for  tliat  true  cir- 
cumcision of  the  spirit,  which  is  the  first 
prayer  of  the  Church  in  beginning  a  year !  Oh 
for  grace  to  live,  not  unto  ourselves,  but  unto 
Him  who  died  for  us  and  rose  again !  Oh  for 
wisdom  to  reckon  aright,  and  betimes,  that 
problem  He  has  given  us — "What  shall  it 
profit  a  man  if  he  gain  the  whole  world,  and 
lose  his  own  soul  ?" 


SERMON    XII. 


THE     GREAT    MISSIONARY. 


EPIPHANY. 


As    LONG  AS  I  AM  IN  THE  WORLD,  I   AM    THE    LIGHT  OF    THE  WORLD. 

St.  John,  ix.  5. 

When  those  Eastern  sages  came  to  Beth- 
lehem, and  were  admitted  to  the  sight  of  their 
incarnate  God,  they  not  only  attested  their 
personal  interest  in  His  advent,  but  also  illus- 
trated its  nature,  as  the  foundation  of  an  uni- 
versal empire.  The  Jews  received  a  sign,  in 
that  event,  of  the  fulfihnent  of  the  promises 
made  unto  their  father  Abraham,  that,  in  his 
seed,  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  should  be 
blessed.  Their  existence,  as  a  people,  was 
based  on  this  promise  of  universal  redemption ; 
they  had  been  chosen  as  vessels  of  election,  and 
honoured  as  instruments  of  mercy  to  mankind. 
They  were  the  trustees,  and  not  the  monopo- 
lists of  grace.  The  original  promise,  concerning 
(240) 


THE  GREAT  MISSIONARY.  241 

"the  seed  of  the  woman,"  had  taken  shape, 
more  definitely  in  the  promise  to  Abraham ; 
had  been  further  restricted  to  Jacob;  had 
passed  to  Judah  and  settled  in  David,  and  his 
posterity ;  and  finally  had  become  personal  to 
the  Blessed  Virgin ;  but  while  the  promised 
seed  was  thus  identified  with  Christ,  the 
promise  itself  was  never  altered.  It  was  always 
a  promise  in  which  all  mankind  were  equally 
interested.  It  was,  indeed,  "  to  the  Jew  first," 
but  it  was  "  also  to  the  Gentile."  Nor  were 
the  Jews  pardonable  for  their  narrowness 
concerning  this  promise.  Their  fathers,  and 
their  prophets,  had  recorded  over  and  over 
again,  not  only  the  universality  of  Messiah's 
empire,  but  their  exultation  in  the  fact,  that 
they  were  the  honoured  instrumentality  of  His 
benevolence  to  all  the  world.  That  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Universe  should  rest  on  the 
shoulder  of  the  Son  of  David,  was  glory  enough 
for  his  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh.  So  the 
prophets  thought,  and  so  they  said  with  rapture. 
Their  father  Jacob  had  prophesied, — "-the 
sceptre  shall  not  depart  from  Judah  until 
Shiloh  come,"  but  he  had  not  forgotten  to  add 
— "  and  unto  Him  shall  tJie  (jathering  of  the 
'people  be."  So  too  they  had  in  the  Pentateuch, 
the  memorable  prophecy  of  Balaam; — "  a  Star 


242  THE  GREAT   MISSIONARY. 

shall  come  out  of  Jacob,  and  a  sceptre  shall  rise 
out  of  Israel  .  .  .  out  of  Jacob  shall  He  come  that 
shall  have  dominion''  This  is  the  prophecy 
which  is  supposed  to  have  been  kept  among 
the  Eastern  nations  until  the  Star  of  Bethlehem 
appeared.  When  the  Magi  saw  it,  they  knew 
the  time  had  come :  and  when  they  arrived  in 
Jerusalem,  and  presented  themselves  at  the 
court  of  Herod,  the  Jews  received  full  notice 
that  Shiloh  had  come ;  that  Judah's  sceptre 
was  henceforth  to  be  one  of  universal  dominion, 
and  that  the  gathering  of  the  nations  was 
already  begun,  in  this  early  pilgrimage  to  His 
presence.  And,  surely,  it  is  a  delightful 
thought,  that  the  venerable  pilgrims  themselves 
must  have  understood  something  of  the  import 
and  nature  of  their  own  errand,  even  if  the  Jews 
were  blinded  to  the  great  realities  of  which  it 
was  the  indication.  Their  story  is,  indeed,  but 
short  and  simple.  They  come  and  go,  with 
little  more  than  the  announcement  of  the  fact ; 
but  oh,  how  much  is  implied  in  their  obedience 
and  faith.  They  perform  the  blessed  offices 
for  which  they  came :  they  evade  the  treach- 
erous injunctions  of  Herod;  they  depart  unto 
their  own  country  another  way.  Moreover, 
God  reveals  to  them  their  duty,  with  respect 
to   Herod,  in    a   dream,   or  vision,  favouring 


THE   GREAT   MISSIONARY.  243 

them,  as  he  did,  commonly,  inspired  prophets 
only.  Is  not  all  this  indicative  of  their  intelli- 
gent piety  ?  Yes,  ye  unknown,  but  reverend 
confessors  of  the  world's  Redeemer;  ye  that 
come  earliest  to  His  feet  from  among  the  Gen- 
tiles; refreshing,  indeed,  is  the  thought,  that 
we  may  yet  enjoy  your  society,  in  the  presence 
of  the  same  dear  Lord,  when,  as  ye,  from  the 
East,  so  we  also,  from  the  West,  shall  sit  down 
in  the  kingdom  of  God. 

It  was  not  by  chance,  then,  nor  as  a  mere 
incident,  that  these  Gentiles  came  to  "  the 
brightness  of  His  rising."  The  Epiphany  is 
justly  regarded  as,  in  some  degree,  the  birth- 
day of  the  Gentile  Church,  and  as,  more  espe- 
cially, a  token  and  pledge  of  the  ultimate  con- 
version of  all  nations.  But  the  event  itself 
was  also  a  remarkable  testimony  to  the  entire 
success  of  those  wise  providences  by  which  the 
world  had  been  prepared  to  receive  the  Great 
Missionary ;  and  to  the  fact  that  the  mission  of 
CnRiST  was  a  mission  to  the  world. 

I  know  that,  to  the  superficial  reader  of  the 
Evangelists ;  the  life  of  Christ  may  seem  to  have 
been  widely  different  from  that  of  a  Missionary 
to  the  world.  His  own  words,  ^^  I  am  not  sent 
save  unto  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel," 
might  be  instanced  in  proof  of  the  local  and 

21 


244  THE  GREAT  MISSIONARY. 

limited  nature  of  His  mission.  In  fact,  it  might 
be  urged,  that,  for  thirty  years,  he  lived  in  ob- 
scurity, as  a  private  person,  fulfilling  the 
humble  lot  of  a  Galilsean  peasant;  vy^hile  the 
three  years  which  He  lived  in  public  were 
passed  among  the  Jews  exclusively.  How 
then  are  we  to  understand  His  repeated  as- 
sertion of  the  claim  set  forth  in  the  text,  as 
long  as  lam  in  the  world,  I  am  the  light  of  the 
tcorld  ? 

In  reply,  I  would  merely  call  attention  to 
the  fact,  that  His  personal  ministry,  among  the 
covenant  people,  was  as  necessary  to  the  world 
as  to  them ;  while,  even  among  them.  His  work 
was  a  general  one,  and  was  never  limited  by 
their  narrow  and  exclusive  feelings.  Thus  St. 
Paul  expounds  his  twofold  relations  to  Jew  and 
Gentile,  in  the  words — "  Now  I  say  that  Jesus 
Christ  was  a  minister  of  the  circumcision  for 
the  truth  of  God,  to  confirm  the  promises  made 
unto  the  fathers,  and  that  the  Gentiles  might 
glorify  Qod  for  His  mercy,  as  it  is  written,  for 
this  cause  I  will  confess  to  thee  among  the 
Gentiles."  Here  His  whole  ministry  among 
the  Jews,  is  declared  to  be,  through  them,  a 
mission  to  the  Gentiles.  Such  it  waSj  not  only 
by  virtue  of  the  fact,  that  He  was,  all  the  time, 
training  and  instructing  the  Apostles,  for  their 


THE  GREAT   MISSIONARY.  245 

universal  labours,  but  also  because  He  was 
fulfilling  a  priesthood,  which  had  the  whole 
world  for  its  object;  and  to  which  He  had, 
providentially,  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
whole  world,  while  He  had  also  prepared  the 
world  to  accept  its  benefits.  This  is  the  point 
to  which  I  would  now  direct  your  attention,  as 
illustrating  the  character  of  Christ,  as  the 
Light  of  the  world;  and  as  establishing  the 
fact  that  His  Church  exists  in  the  world  only 
to  carry  out  His  own  plans  of  universal  mercy. 
The  Star  of  Bethlehem  was  a  token  to  man- 
kind that  the  Light  of  the -world  had  come.  It 
said  to  the  nations,  precisely  what  the  text 
says,  "so  long  as  I  am  in  the  world,  I  am  the 
light  of  the  world."  It  called  the  whole  world 
to  behold  Him,  and  to  recognize  Him  as  the 
Sun  of  Righteousness,  and  the  Desire  of  Na- 
tions. And  observe,  that,  as  I  said.  He  had 
beforehand  prepared  the  world  for  such  a  call, 
and  enabled  mankind  to  identify  Him  as  the 
Great  Missionary  from  heaven  to  earth.  Of 
this  fact,  every  school-boy  has  evidence  before 
him  in  his  Horace  and  Virgil.  "  To  whom 
shall  the  Father  give  the  task  of  expiating  sin  ? 
Oh  come  at  last  we  pray  thee,  veiling  thy 
splendours  in  a  cloud,  thou  prophet  and  Day- 
star."     Such  is  one  of  Horace's  embodiments 


246  THE   GREAT   MISSIONARY. 

of  the  great  and  general  expectation  of  his 
times;  and  his  friend  Virgil^  in  a  jet  more 
striking  manner,  has  gathered  up,  and  given 
shape  to  the  universal  groanings  of  Creation 
for  a  Redeemer,  in  a  poem  which  runs  almost 
parallel  with  Isaiah's  prophecies,  throughout. 
Indeed,  it  is  so  full  of  fragmentary  Scripture, 
that  a  Christian  almost  scruples  to  call  it  a 
pagan  production.  Only  think  of  the  eve  of 
the  Advent  being  celebrated  by  a  heathen^  in 
such  language  as  this  : — 


Now  comes  the  era  of  the  prophet^s  son-g  ;, 
Begins  afresh  a  grand  career  of  ages. 
And,  with  the  Virgin,  paradise  returns  : 
'Now  the  new  birth  descends  from  highest  heaTen  I 
Hail,  to  the  child,  in  whom  the  iron  age, 
Complete,  at  length,  beholds  the  golden  come ; 
Hail,  to  the  world's  great  Sun  ;  at  last  He  reigns. 
And,  from  this  day,  the  mighty  months  proceed. 
Henceforth^  the  rem»nants  of  primeval  sin. 
In  every  vestige  purged  away,  shall  free 
The  nations  from  their  long  perpetual  fear  ; 
While  he,  on  earth,  the  life  divine  shall  lead. 
All  heaven  beholding,  heaven  with  men  conjoined. 
And  in  His  Father's  might  shall  rule  the  world  1 

Now,  it  is  true,  that^  in  rudely  versifying 
this  noble  monument  of  heathen  literature,  I 
have  taken  some  liberties  ;  yet  so  slight  they 
are,  that  although  it  may  scarcely  be  credited 


THE  GREAT  MISSIONARY.  24.7 

except  by  those  who  are  familiar  with  the 
original,  I  venture  to  say  I  have  given  a  fair 
version  of  it,  and  that  such  were  Virgil's  yearn- 
ings towards  his  Redeemer.  True  "the  un- 
known God"  whom  he  thus  "  ignorantly  wor- 
ships," receives  in  his  song,  the  name  of  Apollo, 
the  idol  god  of  Light;  but  as  he  knew  no  better 
sun,  why  should  we  therefore  fail  to  recognize,  in 
it,  his  longings  for  the  light  and  warmth  of  the 
great  Sun  of  Righteousness?  Nop  are  they 
his  individual  longings  only,  for,  as  I  have  said, 
he  only  professed  to  give  utterance  to  the  hopes 
and  expectations  of  his  times.  The  inquiry 
arises — whence  these  expectations  ?  How  had 
men  been  led  to  look  for  a  great  Deliverer,  just 
at  that  period  ?  How  came,  into  their  minds, 
such  notions  of  incarnate  divinity  ?  Of  primeval 
guilt?  Of  atonement  for  sin?  Of  a  new  and 
glorious  era,  and  of  universal  peace  and  blessed- 
ness among  men  ?  The  Christian  answers,  be- 
cause the  way  of  the  Great  Missionary  had  been 
prepared  by  God's  own  providence.  All  this 
was  ordered  beforehand,  that  what  should  be 
done,  in  Jewry,  might  not  be  done  in  a  corner : 
and  that  "  so  long  as  He  was  in  the  World, 
Christ  Himself  might  be  the  Light  of  the 
world." 

And  now,  let  us  observe,  how  it  was  brought 

21* 


248  THE   GREAT   MISSIONARY. 

about,  that  Christ  was  no  sooner  born  King  of 
the  Jews,  than  He  was  also  manifested  to 
Shem,  and  Ham,  and  Japhet,  as  their  King. 
In  other  words  let  us  see  how  emphatically 
Christ's  mission  was  a  mission  to  all  mankind, 
in  its  nature,  and  in  its  reality,  and  that  from 
the  very  beginning.  At  the  moment  of  the 
Nativity,  Japhet  was  "  dwelling  in  the  tents 
of  Shem  f  the  Eomans  had  possession  of 
Palestine.  .  To  the  Gentiles  of  Europe  then, 
Christ  was  manifested  as  soon  as  to  the  Jews. 
He  was  born  in  Ca3sar  s  empire,  and  according 
to  Caesar's  edict.  He  was  enrolled,  as  soon  as 
born,  in  the  city  of  David,  as  the  son  of  Joseph 
and  Mary,  and  the  lineal  descendant  and  heir 
of  David  himself.  Hardly  was  this  done,  when 
the  Gentiles  of  Asia  came  to  salute  him,  bringing 
the  productions  of  their  soil  as  tribute,  and 
acknowledging  His  rightful  dominion  over 
them.  Moreover,  when  He  had  been  recog- 
nized by  the  prophet  Simeon  as  "a  light  to 
lighten  the  Gentiles,"  He  takes  occasion,  by  the 
unbelief  of  Herod,  and  the  virtual  rejection 
which  He  had  already  experienced  from  the 
Jews,  to  manifest  himself  to  the  Gentiles,  more 
directly.  He  no  longer  waits  for  the  world  to 
come  to  His  light ;  He  Himself  carries  it  to  the 
dark  places  of  the  world.  Like  His  father  Jacob, 


THE   GREAT   MISSIONARY.  249 

He  goes  down  into  Egypt,  and  is  manifested 
last  of  all,  to  the  sons  of  Ham ;  as  if  to  give  us 
a  cheering  prophecy,  that  last  of  all,  but 
without  fail,  Ethiopia  shall  stretch  out  her 
hands  unto  God.  Christ  Himself  was  the  first 
missionary  to  Africa ;  and  though  very  little  is 
told  us  of  that  mysterious  visit  to  a  foreign 
country  ;  and  though  Art  has  disguised  it  to  us 
as  a  "  Repose"  in  the  shadow  of  the  pyramids 
— who  knows  what  those  two  years  of  the 
Lord's  personal  sojourning  among  a  people  that 
"walked  in  darkness,"  may  have  accomplished 
for  some  of  their  souls?  True,  He  was  but  a 
babe,  but  He  had  expounders  and  interpreters, 
in  Joseph  and  the  Virgin.  Bishop  Taylor,  ac- 
cording to  his  rich  oriental  vein  of  thought, 
rejoices  in  associating  with  this  visit,  that 
prophecy  of  Isaiah  : — "  The  Lord  shall  come 
into  Egypt,  and  the  idols  of  Egypt  shall  be 
moved  at  His  presence,  and  the  heart  of  Egypt 
shall  melt  in  the  midst  of  it."  He  also  relates 
a  tradition  that  while  they  sojourned  in  the 
Thebaid,  the  idols  were  dashed  down  in  the 
pagan  temples,  like  Dagon  before  the  Ark. 
And  who  knows,  but  the  Ethiopian,  whom 
Philip  baptized,  and  who  seems  to  have  become 
the  Evangelist  of  his  countrymen,  made  his 
visit  to  Jerusalem,  and   became  a   proselyte 


250  THE   GREAT   MISSIONARY. 

Jew,  and  then  a  Christian,  as  the  result  of 
that  mysterious  portion  of  our  Saviour  s  mission 
which  fulfilled  the  prophecy  of  Hosea,  "  out  of 
Egypt  have  I  called  my  Son  ?" 

At  all  events,  we  cannot  believe  it  was  for 
naught  that  the  Great  Missionary  followed  the 
path  of  the  ancient  Israel,  and  went  into  the 
house  of  bondage,  and  there  dwelt,  in  the  flesh, 
where  He  had  dwelt  of  old,  in  Spirit,  when  all 
the  children  of  Israel  had  "  light  in  their  dwell- 
ings." We  may,  at  least,  see  in  His  return, 
and  in  the  application  to  him,  personally,  of 
Hosea's  prophecy,  a  challenge  to  compare  the 
typical  progress  of  the  ark,  through  the  wilder- 
ness, with  the  final  manifestation  of  Christ, 
and  to  trace  the  chain  of  events,  from  the  day 
of  the  passover  in  Egypt,  to  the  day  of  the 
manifestation  of  the  Lamb  of  God,  in  Jewry, 
as  one  history,  having  one  single  end  in  view, 
and  that  the  enlightening  of  the  world,  by  the 
Day  spring  from  on  high.  Now,  if  we  honour 
this  challenge,  we  shall  find  that  not  an  event 
connected  with  the  history  of  God's  people  had 
been  lost  to  this  great  object.  The  overthrow 
of  Pharaoh  was  a  marvellous  shock  to  the 
superstitions  of  the  nations,  among  which 
Egypt  was  then  the  queen.  The  prophecy  of 
Balaam  found  its  way  to  the  whole  Orient  be- 


THE  GREAT   MISSIONARY.  251 

cause  of  the  passage  of  the  ark  through  Arabia. 
The  conquest  of  Canaan  was  another  blow  to 
idols.  Even  the  lapse  of  the  Hebrews  into 
idolatry,  and  their  captivity,  was  overruled  to 
a  similar  purpose;  for  Nebuchadnezzar  was 
but  another  Pharaoh,  and  Babylon  another 
Egypt;  and  the  proclamation  which  he  was 
led  to  make  against  idolatry,  after  his  vision 
of  the  Son  of  God,  in  the  fiery  furnace,  together 
with  the  subsequent  proclamation  of  Darius, 
in  favour  of  the  God  of  Daniel,  were  most  im- 
portant links  in  the  chain  of  events  which  led 
the  wise  men  to  Bethlehem.  It  is  an  extraor- 
dinary fact  of  history,  moreover,  that,  in  their 
successive  times,  such  potentates  as  Pharaoh, 
Nebuchadnezzar,  Cyrus,  Alexander,  and  Augus- 
tus, were  led  to  do  public  homage  to  the  Lord 
God  of  Israel ;  such  as  turned  the  eyes  of  the 
nations  to  Jerusalem,  and  made  the  name  of 
the  true  God  to  be  known  and  feared,  from  the 
east  to  the  west.  The  testimony  of  profane 
history  is  unequivocal,  as  to  the  fact  that  the 
appearance  of  a  universal  Sovereign,  who 
should  arise  out  of  Jacob,  was  the  general  ex- 
pectation of  mankind  when  the  Saviour  was 
manifested.  God  had  "  shaken  all  nations,"  to 
prepare  his  way,  and  then,  at  the  moment  of  an 


252  THE  GREAT   MISSIONARY. 

extraordinary  and  universal  peace,  "  the  Desire 
of  all  nations  "  came. 

The  sophist  Gibbon,  in  the  "  five  reasons" 
which  he  assigns,  to  account  for  the  rapid 
spread  of  the  Gospel,  has  taken  incredible  pains 
to  show  that,  just  at  the  moment  when  the 
light  of  the  world  appeared,  all  things  were 
singularly  predisposed  to  its  reception.  This 
he  stupidly  urges  as  an  argument  against  its 
marvellous  and  miraculous  diffusion  ;  whereas, 
it  gloriously  attests  both  the  wisdom  and  the 
power  of  God,  in  carrying  out  His  plans  of 
mercy  to  the  world.  In  a  word,  the  infidel 
historian,  unwittingly,  and  with  immense  la- 
bour, has  proved  how  completely  that  prophecy 
was  fulfilled,  which  saith  :  —  "  every  valley 
shall  be  exalted,  and  every  mountain  and  hill 
shall  be  made  low,  and  the  crooked  shall  be 
made  straight,  and  the  rough  places  plain,  and 
the  glory  of  the  Lord  shall  be  revealed,  and  all 
flesh  shall  see  it  together." 

From  the  moment  of  our  Saviour's  birth, 
then,  when  it  was  announced  by  angels  as  glad 
tidings  of  great  joy  to  all  people,  down  to  the 
moment  of  His  departure  into  glory,  when  He 
said,  "  go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the 
Gospel  to  every  creature,"  He  fulfilled  the  office, 
personally,   of   the   Great    Missionary.     "He 


THE  GREAT  MISSIONARY.  253 

came  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost." 
And  how  did  He  fulfil  this  mission  ?  In  sea- 
son and  out  of  season,  as  a  prophet  and  as  a 
priest,  as  the  good  physician  of  body  and  soul, 
on  the  Mount  and  upon  the  Cross,  for  Jews 
and  for  Samaritans,  behold  Him  always  "  work- 
ing the  works  of  Him  that  sent  Him,"  and  al- 
ways connecting  His  works  for  individuals, 
with  lessons  for  all  mankind.  Thus,  the  text 
is  an  exposition  of  His  purpose  in  giving  light 
to  one  born  blind.  It  was  a  sign  of  His  great 
errand  to  enlighten  the  spiritually  blind.  He 
declares  this  work  of  illumination  the  whole 
object  of  His  life  in  the  world.  jSo  long  as  I 
am  in  the  world  I  am  the  light  of  the  worlds 
And  He  goes  on  to  forewarn  the  Jews  not  only 
of  His  purpose  to  evangelize  the  heathen,  but 
also  of  the  removal  of  their  own  candlestick. 
"For  judgment  I  am  come  into  this  world, 
that  they  who  see  not  might  see,  and  that  they 
who  see  might  be  made  blind."  He  was  all 
the  time  effecting,  among  those  who  saw  His 
personal  ministry,  that  grafting-in  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, into  the  root  and  fatness  of  the  olive-tree, 
which  was  to  be  "  the  riches  of  the  world." 

But  here  the  inquiry  rises,  as  to  the  force  of 
the  words — So  long  as  I  am  in  the  world.  Is 
He  "  the  light  of  the  world  "  no  longer  ?     God 


254  THE   GREAT   MISSIONARY. 

forbid  !     The  force  of  the  text  is  rather,  this : 
—so  long  as  I  am  in  the  world,  my  personal 
ministry,  as  the  light  of  the  world,  is  the  world's 
sole  dependence ;  therefore,  every  creature  has 
a  claim  on  me  personally,  and  I  must  do  the 
works  of  my  Father,  in  ministering  to  them, 
according   as  they  need.      What  then?     His 
personal  ministry  has  been  succeeded  by  the 
more  general  ministry  of  the  Holy  Ghost.     As 
the  Father  sent  the  Son,  so  He  has  sent  His 
Apostles  and  evangelists.     He  is  still  the  light 
of  the  world,  but  His  personal  preaching,  and 
healing,  and   enlightening,  are   no   more   the 
M^orld's   dependence.     He   has  multiplied  His 
hands.  His  feet.  His  tongue,   His  words.  His 
mercies,   through   the   Church,  which   is  His 
body,  in  which  every  individual  member  has 
an   office,  in   ministering   His   mercy.     What 
follows  ?     "  We  are  debtors,"  brethren,  "  both 
to  the  Greeks  and  to  the  barbarians ;  both  to 
the   wise   and   to   the   unwise."     The  Gospel 
which  we  possess  is  the  world's  Gospel.     If 
Christ  is   the   Great   Missionary,   whom  the 
world  has  been  taught  to  expect,  and  to  whom 
all  men  are  called  to  look,  we  Christifins  are 
bound  to  manifest  Him  to   all  men.     In  His 
own  language — "  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world.  .  . 
Let  your  light  so  shine  before  men,  that  they 


THE  GREAT  MISSIONARY.  255 

may  see  your   good   works,  and  glorify  your 
Father  which  is  in  Heaven." 

How  nobly  the  primitive  Church  fulfilled 
this  mission,  in  the  Spirit  of  her  Lord,  the 
records  of  the  world  itself  demonstrate.  There 
was  no  grudging ;  no  holding  back ;  no  debate 
where  to  begin,  and  what  to  do  first.  There 
was  no  stopping  to  ask  what  might  possibly 
be  done  with  heathen,  if  they  should  die  in 
their  darkness.  Enough  for  that  little  flock  that 
they  were  the  light  of  the  world.  Christ  had 
enlightened  them,  and  had  laid  on  them  the 
duty  of  enlightening  others.  They  saw  the 
Prince  of  Darkness  enthroned  above  the  king- 
doms of  the  earth,  and  their  commission  was 
to  depose  him,  that  the  Prince  of  Light 
might  reign  in  his  stead.  So  then  the  Apostles 
parted  at  Jerusalem,  to  meet  again  only  in  the 
Jerusalem  which  is  above.  North,  south,  east, 
west,  they  sought  their  crown  of  martyrdom, 
whilst  they  preached  Christ  crucified.  And 
oh,  how  mightily  grew  the  Word  of  God,  and 
prevailed!  Everywhere  the  Lord  wrought 
with  them  and  confirmed  His  word.  It  is  al- 
most incredible,  how  soon  they  had  borne  the 
testimony  of  Jesus  through  all  the  accessible 
regions  of  the  earth,  from  Britain  to  India. 
Everywhere  the  idols  were  moved,  and  dark- 
22 


256  THE   GREAT   MISSIONARY. 

ness  fled,  before  the  presence  of  the  manifested 
Gospel.  Bel  bowed  down,  and  Nebo  stooped ; 
and  miserable  nations  who  had  groaned  in  the 
bondage  of  Satan,  began  to  walk  in  the  light 
of  the  truth,  and  to  rejoice  in  Christ  with  joy 
unspeakable  and  full  of  glory. 

Now,  I  desire  to  ask  whether  any  one  who 
pretends  to  be  a  Christian,  and  who  owes  his 
own  knowledge  of  the  Gospel  to  the  missionary 
spirit  of  better  days,  can  have  any  excuse  for 
doubting  that  the  very  idea  of  the  Gospel,  is 
that  of  a  mission  to  the  world  ?  Is  not  Christ 
the  Great  Missionary  ?  Does  not  His  Church 
exist,  in  order  to  be  His  agent  in  evangelizing 
the  world  ?  Is  she  not  now  the  light  of  the 
world?  Did  Christ  light  her  candle  that  she 
might  put  it  under  a  bushel  ?  Is  it  not  the 
personal  duty  of  every  Christian  to  copy  Christ 
in  working  while  it  is  to-day,  and  so  to  let  his 
light  shine  before  men  ?  Is  it  not  written, 
"  even  as  He  is  so  are  we  in  this  world  ?"  Can 
this  be  true,  unless  "  the  Spirit  of  Christ  dwell 
in  us  richly  and  abound,  so  that  we  be  not 
barren  nor  unfruitful  ?"  Is  not  Christ's  Spirit 
a  missionary  Spirit ;  a  Spirit  everywhere  at  war 
with  darkness,  and  with  the  power  of  Satan  ? 
And   is   it   not  written  again — "  If  any  man 


THE  GREAT  MISSIONARY.  257 

have  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  is  none  of 
His?" 

I  do  not  speak  of  a  missionary  spirit,  then,  as 
something  which  a  Christian  may,  or  may  not 
have.  I  cannot  conceive  of  a  Christian,  who 
has  anything  better  than  the  most  feeble 
powers  of  mind,  or  the  merest  glimmer  of 
grace  in  the  soul,  who  can  fail  to  share  in  his 
Saviour's  ardent  desire  "  to  seek  and  to  save 
that  which  is  lost."  To  take  up  a  map  of  the 
globe,  and  to  see  the  dark  places  of  the  earth, 
where  Christ's  name  has  yet  to  be  heard  for 
the  first  time,  and  where  souls  still  are  born 
and  die,  slaves  to  the  devil,  doing  his  works, 
worshipping  him,  and  groaning  under  his  bond- 
age— oh,  is  it  not  enough  to  make  a  Christian 
tremble  that  such  darkness  should  be,  while 
he  has  light  enough  and  to  spare  ?  And  yet 
I  do  believe  there  are  persons  who  flatter  them- 
selves that  they  are  Christians,  and  on  their 
way  to  glory,  who  scarcely  give  a  thought  to 
these  things,  from  one  year  to  another  of  their 
utterly  selfish  and  unprofitable  lives.  If  Chris- 
tians were  all  like  these,  how  long  would  it 
take  Satan's  missionaries  to  overthrow  the 
Church,  and  win  back  the  whole  world  to  the 
prince  of  darkness? 

I  know  there  are  some  who  profess  to  have 


258  THE  GREAT   MISSIONARY. 

scruples  about  sending  missions  to  the  heathen, 
while  we  have  so  many  heathen  at  home.  It 
IS  a  scruple  which  generally  is  most  lively  in 
those  who  do  as  little  for  home,  as  for  abroad  : 
and  it  is  unworthy  of  any  one  who  owes  his  own 
evangelization  to  a  more  liberal  policy.  "  What 
hast  thou  that  thou  didst  not  receive  ?"  "  We 
are  debtors/'  brethren !  Freely  we  have  re- 
ceived, freely  we  must  give !  From  the  day 
when  those  eleven  Galilseans  came  down  from 
the  mount  of  Olives,  and  undertook  to  destroy 
the  works  of  the  devil,  and  to  regenerate  the 
world  by  preaching  the  doctrine  of  the  Crucified, 
the  successful  plan  of  operations  has  always 
been  to  multiply  the  centres  of  light,  and  to 
let  the  moles  and  the  bats  grope  and  fly  no- 
where, in  darkness,  undisturbed.  To  preach 
the  Gospel  "  where  Christ  was  not  named  be- 
fore" was  St.  Paul's  policy,  and  he  endeavoured, 
so  far  as  possible,  "  not  to  build  on  another 
man's  foundation."  The  light  of  which  the 
Apostles  were  the  depositories  was  the  light  of 
the  world,  and  as  such  they  gave  it  a  world- 
wide diffusion.  Wherever  there  was  an  open 
door,  there  they  entered  in :  wherever  there 
was  a  cry  "  come  over  and  help  us,"  they  went 
and  helped  them.  With  them,  as  with  their 
Lord,  there  was  no  distinction  of  home-born, 


THE  GREAT   MISSIONARY.  259 

or  alien,  barbarian,  Scythian,  bond  or  free, 
Dut  all  men  were  neighbours  and  brethren,  who 
needed  a  good  Samaritan  to  bind  up  their 
wounds  and  to  take  care  of  them.  So  be  it, 
then,  with  us !  We  shall  flourish  best  at 
home,  when  we  do  most  abroad,  and  certain  it 
is,  we  shall  not  do,  anywhere,  too  much. 

But  there  is  one  more  objection  which  ought  to 
be  met.  It  is  said — "  after  all,  so  little  is  done." 
I  never  knew  this  said  by  any  one  who  did  not 
himself  take  care  to  keep  it  little,  so  far  as  his 
personal  sacrifices  were  concerned.  But  the 
contrary  is  the  case.  I  am  astonished  at  the 
vast  amount  which  has  been  accomplished,  by 
the  providence  of  God,  in  answer  to  prayer, 
during  my  own  short  experience  of  life.  Apart 
from  all  that  has  been  done  by  the  noble  mis- 
sionaries to  whom  we  so  coolly  assign  the  high 
places  of  the  field,  and  that  is  very  considerable, 
I  am  amazed  to  see  what  God  has  done,  by  His 
own  mighty  hand,  to  "  make  His  way  known 
upon  earth,  and  his  saving  health  among  all 
nations."  Lo !  what  a  highway  the  sea  has  be- 
come, within  a  few  years.  What  stations, 
and  storehouses,  of  light,  He  has  established 
throughout  the  world.  What  advanced  posts 
are  already  occupied  in  the  enemies'  land ! 
What  nations  have  been  born  in  a  day,  as  if  on 


260  THE   GREAT   MISSIONARY. 

purpose  to  break  up  the  strongholds  of  hea- 
thenism !  In  all  this,  I  see  an  answer  to 
prayer.  I  adore  and  worship  the  wisdom  and 
power  of  God,  in  subordinating  the  mammon- 
worship  and  cupidity  of  men,  to  His  own  pur- 
poses. Just  as  Rome's  military  roads  were  all 
prepared  to  give  free  course  to  the  Gospel  at 
first,  so  now  the  world's  steam  and  electricity 
are  made  the  Gibeonites  of  "  this  latter  house ;" 
"  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water"  to  the 
Church  of  the  latter  day.  Prayer  has  done 
this,  and  prayer  and  labour  will  subject  it, 
more  and  more,  to  the  service  of  Christ.  I 
believe  that  God  intends  to  make  a  short  work 
with,  w^hat  remains  to  be  done.  In  the  opinion 
of  many  of  our  wisest  contemporaries,  the  signs 
of  the  times  all  indicate  this  probability.  A 
new  and  rapid  developement  is  promised  of 
that  "  little  stone,"  which  has  become  a  great 
mountain,  and  w^hich  is  to  fill  the  whole  earth. 
The  relics  of  the  old  empires  are  fast  becoming 
powder  before  it.  Things  are  not  to  go  on  as 
they  have  done.  Soon,  there  will  be  no  more 
Rome  with  her  pestilent  pope  :  the  churches 
of  Europe  will  be  emancipated  and  purified, 
and  all  the  sooner,  because  he  waxes  worse 
and  worse.  Let  him  "  fill  up  the  measure  of 
his  iniquity,"  and  let  Babylon  fall !  Yea,  Lordj 


THE   GREAT   MISSIONARY.  261 

how  long?  In  some  sudden  moment,  too,  the 
Jews  will  behold  the  light,  like  Saul  of  Tarsus; 
there  will  fall  from  their  eyes  as  it  were  scales ; 
and  everywhere  will  resound  from  their  tongues 
hosannas  to  the  Son  of  David.  What  then  ? 
Let  St.  Paul  reply.  "  K  the  casting  away  of 
them  be  the  reconciling  of  the  world,  what 
shall  the  receiving  of  them  be,  but  life  from 
the  dead  ?"  Brethren,  if  we  should  not  live  to 
see  it,  our  children,  in  all  probability,  will. 
Ours  the  war,  and  theirs  the  peace.  Ours  the 
labour,  the  patience,  and  the  prayer,  and  theirs 
the  blessedness  to  see,  with  their  eyes,  more 
than  we  dare  to  hope.  Soon  church-bells  will 
ring  in  Oonstantinople,  and  there  will  be  no 
more  Turks  in  Turkey.  The  day  is  not  far 
off  when  Buddhism  shall  no  longer  be  the  re- 
ligion of  China,  nor  Brahminism  the  religion 
of  India.  In  the  next  generation  there  will  be 
native  bishops  among  the  Hindoos  ;  and  then 
among  the  people  of  Tartary  and  Thibet,  and 
far  in  the  interior  of  Africa,  as  well  as  of  Asia. 
In  short  I  believe  there  is  a  good  time  coming, 
when  "  the  earth  shall  be  full  of  the  knowledge 
of  the  Lord,  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea."  And 
more,  I  am  sure  that  the  doing  of  all  this,  rests 
in  some  measure,  upon  you  and  me.  It  is 
CnRiST*s  ordinance  to  work  by  means,  and  to 


262  THE  GREAT  MISSIONARY. 

do  great  things  by  instruments  which  the  world 
despises ;  yea,  and  by  "  things  which  are  not, 
to  bring  to  naught  things  that  are."  Even  so, 
it  appears  to  me  this  latter-day  glory  is  coming 
"  without  observation ;"  without  much  to  at- 
tract the  world's  attention  beforehand ;  but  not 
without  much  of  prayer  and  effort,  and  patient 
waiting  upon  the  Lord,  on  the  part  of  His 
saints.  As  for  those  Christians  who  neither 
pray,  nor  pay,  for  the  spread  of  the  Gospel, 
God  has  told  us  of  their  reward.  Go  read  what 
He  does  with  the  salt  that  has  lost  its  savour ! 
He  salts  the  world,  and  lights  the  world  with 
materials  of  another  kind,  and  He  disposes  of 
the  refuse  material  in  another  way.  Mean- 
time, if  we  be  the  light  of  the  world,  how  great 
ou.r  encouragement  to  let  our  light  shine.  We 
must  hope  against  hope,  and  be  content  to  go 
round  Jericho,  time  after  time,  with  no  sign 
of  a  single  breach  in  her  mighty  walls,  but  the 
seventh  time,  these  walls  will  fall  flat.  And 
every  circuit  beforehand,  though  it  may  seem 
unavailing,  is  accomplishing  the  end.  The 
Gospel  will  subdue  the  world,  for  the  mouth 
of  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it. 

Finally,  let  us  deeply  feel  that  the  grand 
obstacle,  at  this  moment,  to  an  effective  as- 
sault is  upon  heathenism,  the  divisions  among 


THE   GREAT   MISSIONARY.  263 

Christians.  The  accursed  spirit  of  sect,  this 
it  is  which  wastes  our  strength,  and  sets  brother 
against  brother,  and  delays  the  conversion  of 
the  world,  and  does  the  devil's  work,  more  than 
any  other  thing.  Christ's  promises  are  made 
to  a  united  Church.  "  That  they  all  may  he 
one,  that  the  world  may  believe."  Oh  that 
God  would  open  the  eyes  of  all  who  "  love  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  sincerity,"  to  the  in- 
iquity of  those  carnal  divisions  which  exist 
among  us,  and  move  all  faithful  and  true  hearts, 
to  "  stand  fast  in  one  spirit,  with  one  mind, 
striving  together  for  the  faith  of  the  Gospel." 
As  for  us,  who  have  received,  by  God's  grace, 
the  great  deposit  of  Apostolic  doctrine,  not  for 
ourselves,  but  for  the  world,  let  us  learn  to 
"speak  the  truth  in  love,"  and  to  put  away 
those  offensive  boastings  which  serve  only  to 
make  the  good  things  we  hold  in  trust,  dis- 
tasteful to  those  who  need  them.  And  may 
God  reunite  all  who  love  His  kingdom,  in  one 
Holy  and  -Appostolic  host,  that  so,  warring  no 
more  with  one  another,  but  only  against  sin, 
Satan  and  de^th,  we  may  fight  a  good  fight, 
and  "  contend  earnestly  for  the  faith  once  de- 
livered to  the  saints." 


SERMON  XIIL 


THE  SON  OF  MARY  IN  HIS  FATHER'S  HOUSE. 


FIRST  SUNDAY   AFTER   EPIPHANY. 


The  Lord  God  hath  given  me  the  tongue   op  the  learned 

THAT  I  should  KNOW  HOW  TO  SPEAK  A  WORD  IN  SEASON  TO  HIM 
that  is  WEARY  ;  HE  WAKENETH,  MORNING  BY  MORNING,  HE 
WAKENETH   MINE   EAR   TO    HEAR    AS    THE   LEARNED. — Isaiah   1.    4. 

The  fictions  of  the  middle  ages  have  pre- 
served a  striking  truth,  in  a  corrupt  form, 
when  they  represent  St.  Luke  as  a  painter. 
His  pencil  is  the  pen  of  inspiration,  and  his 
colours  the  glowing  words  which  the  Holy 
Ghost  teacheth;  but  who  that  follows  the 
glorious  Evangelist  in  his  narrative,  can  for- 
bear to  acknowledge  that  he  rather  sees  than 
reads  the  life  of  the  manifested  God?  Scene 
after  scene,  all  his  characters,  and  all  their  ac- 
cessories, live  and  move  before  us.  There  is 
no  human  story  so  full  of  pictures,  yet  the 
words  are  few,  and  such  as  come  naturally, 
(264) 


THE   SON  OF  MARY.  265 

and  are  read  without  effort ;  and  always  the 
prominent  and  central  figure,  around  whom 
all  is  grouped,  is  the  Son  of  Mary  in  His  meek- 
ness and  His  lowliness,  His  majesty  and  His 
love.  Such  is  the  consummate  work  of  God 
Himself,  in  winning  man*s  heart  to  wisdom.  He 
has  condescended  to  render  the  tidings  of  sal- 
vation as  delicious  to  our  mental  appetite,  as 
He  has  made  the  fruit  of  the  earth  to  our  taste. 
The  man  who  refuses  to  know  and  love  the 
Saviour,  as  exhibited  in  the  Gospel,  is  a  rebel 
to  his  own  best  impulses,  and  does  violence  to 
the  tenderest  instincts  of  humanity. 

The  Epiphanies,  or  manifestations  of  the  In^ 
carnate  God  to  His  creatures,  were  as  many  as 
were  His  works  of  wisdom  and  mercy,  but  that 
early  one  which  is  presented  to  us,  this  day,  in 
the  Gospel,  is  peculiarly  attractive  and  impor- 
tant. It  fills  up  the  time  between  the  visit  of 
the  wise  men  to  the  Royal  Babe  of  Bethlehem, 
and  His  public  manifestation,  as  our  Great  High 
Priest,  at  his  baptism.  Thus  we  are  introduced 
to  the  infant  as  king,  to  the  child  as  prophet, 
and  to  the  man  Christ  Jesus  as  the  anointed 
priest.  But  this  one  glimpse  of  the  childhood 
of  the  Son  of  Mary  has  a  fascination  for  the 
devout  mind,  entirely  its  own.  It  appeals  to 
our  affections.     It  presents  us  with  a  view  of 


2G6  THE   SON  OF  MARY. 

our  Saviour,  which  charms  the  intelligence, 
while  it  fills  the  heart.  It  assures  us,  more- 
over, that  the  life  of  Christ  was  a  harmony 
throughout,  and  corresponded  entirely  with 
His  own  prophetic  description  of  Himself,  in 
the  Psalms  :  "  Lo,  I  come !  in  the  volume  of 
the  book  it  is  written  of  me  that  I  should  do 
thy  will.  .  .  I  am  content  to  do  it ;  yea,  thy 
law  is  within  my  heart." 

Behold,  then,  the  holy  Jesus,  now  twelve 
years  of  age,  as  He  is  found  in  the  temple, 
amid  its  Kabbis  and  Gamaliels,  both  hearing 
them  and  asking  them  questions.  He  has  been 
brought  up  to  Jerusalem,  by  Joseph,  and  His 
blessed  Mother,  to  keep  the  Paschal  feast  with 
other  Hebrew  children;  but  three  days  after 
all  the  other  pilgrims,  young  and  old,  have 
returned  to  their  homes,  He  still  lingers  in  the 
house  of  God,  and  clings  to  the  skirts  of  those 
venerable  men,  who  sit  there  to  expound  the 
law.  The  holy  child  has  recognized  the  house 
of  His  true  Father,  and  instead  of  a  visiter 
He  becomes  an  inhabitant.  Like  the  Psalmist's 
sparrow.  He  finds  His  nest  close  by  the  altar. 
He  is  at  home  in  the  temple,  and  day  after 
da}^,  as  He  mingles  with  the  doctors,  they  are 
"astonished  at  His  understanding  and  an- 
swers I"     They   lift   their    reverend   hands  in 


THE   SON   OF   MARY.  267 

wonder.  ^'  Whence,"  they  say,  "  whence  hath 
this  child  letters,  having  never  learned  ?" 
Whence  this  marvellous  betrayal  of  intelli- 
gence without  conceit ;  of  knowledge  without 
display  ?  How  is  it  we  hear  the  wisdom  of 
the  ancients,  from  the  lips  of  rosy  youth  ?  Is 
this  one  of  the  children  of  the  captivity  ?  Is 
it  the  child  Joseph,  or  Samuel,  or  Daniel,  risen 
again  ?  Or  is  it  not  rather  some  new  consola- 
tion of  Israel,  who  is  all  that  these  children 
were,  and  more  besides  ?  And  yet — is  not  this 
the  carpenter  s  son  ?  Is  He  not  the  son  of 
Joseph?  And  can  any  good  come  out  of  Naza- 
reth ? 

WTiile  they  thus  reasoned  among  them- 
selves, they  may  be  supposed  to  have  held  in 
their  hands  the  volume  of  the  book  in  which 
it  was  written  of  Him — "  the  Lord  God  hath 
given  me  the  tongue  of  the  learned  that  I 
should  know  how  to  speak  a  word  in  season  to 
him  that  is  weary :  He  wakeneth  morning  by 
morning,  He  wakeneth  mine  ear  to  hear  as  the 
learned."  I  consider  these  words  of  the  pro- 
phet, as  the  complement  of  the  narrative  of 
the  Evangelist.  They  seem  designed  as  the 
answer  of  Christ  Himself,  to  the  astonishment 
and  curiosity  of  the  doctors.  They  inquire — 
''whence   this   tongue   of  the   learned,"    and 

2?, 


2G8  THE   SON   OF   MARY. 

Jesus  answers  in  these  words  of  Isaiah.  His 
wisdom  and  utterance  are  not  human,  but  super- 
natural. His  human  nature  is  anointed  with 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  with  His  sevenfold  gifts, 
and  that  without  measure  :  and  if  He  "  grows 
in  wisdom,  and  in  favour  with  God,"  'tis  but 
as  the  sun  grows  bright  from  morning  to  noon ; 
not  by  any  increment  of  His  personal  glory, 
but  by  more  and  more  manifesting  Himself  to 
man,  and  thus  discharging  the  work  which 
was  given  Him  by  the  Father. 

We  may  gather,  then,  from  the  text,  some- 
thing satisfactory  concerning  the  childhood  of 
Jesus  :  and,  in  several*  ways,  we  may  use  it  for 
our  instruction,  in  connection  with  the  great 
subject  of  His  manifestation,  and  His  mission 
to  mankind.  But  here  it  ought  to  be  remarked 
that  the  whole  chapter  of  which  it  is  part, 
supports  the  view  I  have  taken  of  it,  as  a  di- 
rect prophecy  of  Christ,  and  of  His  relations 
to  both  Jew  and  Gentile.  Nay,  the  entire 
argument  of  the  prophet,  in  the  context  im- 
mediately preceding,  is  the  Incarnation  and 
ministry  of  Messiah.  In  the  abrupt  and  im- 
passioned forms  of  lyrical  poetry,  he  intro- 
duces God  the  Father,  as  it  wfere,  consoling  the 
Son  of  Mary,  for  the  unwillingness  of  His  own 
people  to  receive  Him,  and  promising  Him,  in- 


THE   SON   OF   MARY.  269 

stead  of  the  tribes  of  Jacob,  the  uttermost  parts 
of  the  earth  for  His  possession.  Fired  with 
this  intimation  of  the  vastness  of  the  divine 
plan  of  salvation,  the  inspiration  of  Isaiah 
mounts  to  rapture.  He  foresees  the  ingather- 
ing of  the  nations,  and  is  smitten  with  trans- 
port in  view  of  the  ultimate  extension,  and 
glory  of  the  Israel  of  God.  His  soul  bounds 
from  earth  to  heaven,  at  the  thought  of  the 
w^hole  w^orld  converted  to  the  faith  of  Abra- 
ham, and  adoring  the  great  Melchisedek. 
"  Sing,  oh  heavens,  and  be  joyful,  oh  earth,  and 
burst  forth  into  singing,  oh  mountains,  for  the 
Lord  hath  comforted  His  people."  Then,  by  a 
transition,  highly  lyrical  and  almost  dramatic, 
he  supposes  the  carnal-minded  Jew  complain- 
ing, and  as  it  were,  grudging  that  the  Gentiles 
should  be  fellow-heirs.  With  such  a  recreant 
to  the  spirit  of  the  Law,  he  introduces  the 
Messiah,  expostulating.  *Is  it  I,'  says  the 
King  of  the  Jews,  ^who  have  divorced  your 
mother,  the  Jewish  Church  ?  Have  I  sold  away 
my  children  ?  Or  have  not  your  own  iniqui- 
ties separated  you  from  me,  and  deprived  you 
of  your  precedence  as  the  church  of  the  first- 
born T  He  adds,  "  wherefore,  when  I  came 
was  there  no  man ;  when  I  called  was  there 
none  to  answer?*'     Who  but  sees,  in  this,  the 


270  THE    SON   OF   MARY. 

prophetic  form  of  that  which  is  written  in  the 
Gospel,  "  He  came  unto  His  own,  and  His  own 
received  Him  not."  Now,  the  text  imme- 
diately succeds ;  and  is  a  condensed  exhibition 
of  our  Saviour's  prophetic  office,  as  was  the 
former  passage  of  His  kingly  character ;  while 
in  the  next  verse  there  is  a  lyric  transition  to 
His  priesthood  and  His  sacrifice  which  cannot  be 
mistaken  :  "  I  gave  my  back  to  the  smiters,  and 
my  cheek  to  them  that  plucked  off  the  hair ; 
I  hid  not  my  face  from  shame  and  spitting." 

Here  then  let  us  dwell  on  the  text,  reversing 
its  order,  for  its  better  illustration.  In  the 
concluding  portion,  we  have,  I  suppose,  an  in- 
timation, of  that  "  favour  with  God/'  in  w^hich 
the  holy  child  is  described  as  growing.  "  He 
wakeneth,  morning  by  morning,  he  wakeneth 
mine  ear,  to  hear  as  the  learned."  We  must 
remember  that  the  infancy  and  childhood  of 
our  Lord  were  entirely  destitute  of  those  cir- 
cumstantial characteristics  from  which  early 
proficiency  and  wisdom  might  naturally  be  ex- 
pected. The  reputed  son  of  an  humble  la- 
bourer. He  was,  moreover,  a  Nazarene,  and  had 
been  an  exile  in  Egypt.  Already,  He  was  the 
scorn  of  men,  and  an  outcast  of  the  people  : 
and  the  reputation  of  His  class  in  society  as 
altogether  illiterate,  may  be  gathered  from  a 


THE   SON   OF   MARY.  271 

subsequent  exclamation  of  the  populace — "  how 
knoweth  this  man  letters."  But  if  the  doctors 
were  astonished,  in  like  manner,  the  text  might 
have  informed  them  that  such  supernatural 
wisdom  was  to  be  a  sign  of  their  Messiah.  His 
instructor  had  been  His  Father  in  heaven. 
The  childhood  of  the  prophet  Samuel  had 
been  a  type  of  Christ,  in  more  respects  than, 
in  the  bare  coincidence  of  Hannah's  song  with 
Mary's  Magnificat  Who  has  not  read  of 
the  child  who  abode  in  the  temple,  by  the  ark 
of  God,  in  the  days  of  Eli?  Who  is  not  fa- 
miliar with  the  story  of  the  Lord's  "  awakening 
his  ear  to  hear  as  the  learned,"  and  how  the 
child  answered,  "  speak  Lord,  for  thy  servant 
heareth  ?"  Let  the  Rabbis  know,  then,  from 
their  own  scriptures,  that,  as  one  day  with  the 
child  "Samuel,  so,  all  the  days  of  the  child 
Jesus,  were  begun  with  a  voice  from  heaven  : 
"  He  wakeneth,  morning  by  morning,  He  wak- 
eneth  mine  ear  to  hear  as  the  learned."  While 
those  who  knew  Him  only  as  the  carpenter's 
son,  regarded  Him  merely  as  an  innocent  and 
lovely  child,  He  was  thus  realizing  the  hidden 
life  of  the  ancient  prophets.  He  lived,  daily, 
as  Enoch  did,  when  he  walked  with  God,  or  as 
Moses  did  upon  the  mount ;  or  Elijah  by  the 
brook  Cherith.     The  same  God  who  is  every- 


272  THE   SON   OF  MARY, 

where  described,  in  His  communications  with 
these  inferior  prophets,  as  "  rising  up  early  and 
sending  them,"  thus,  morning  by  morning, 
wakened  His  own  beloved  Son ;  wakening  His 
ear  to  hear  as  the  learned ;  giving  Him  "  meat 
to  eat  that  they  knew  not  of;"  and  enabling 
Him,  the  more  fully  to  declare,  "  my  doctrine 
is  not  mine  but  His  that  sent  me."  And  so  it 
was,  that  in  due  time  God  manifested  His  Son, 
while  yet  a  child,  to  those  who  should  have 
known  Him,  by  this  sign,  as  "that  prophet 
that  should  come  into  the  world."  And  not 
only  so,  for  it  was  perhaps  necessary  that 
Joseph  and  the  Blessed  Virgin,  should  be  thus 
reminded,  of  their  true  relation  to  the  beloved 
child  of  their  heart,  who  while  obeying  and 
serving  them,  in  their  poor  cottage,  was  yet 
their  strength  and  their  Redeemer.  Thus,  at 
all  events,  was  His  holy  mother  prepared  for 
the  time  when  He  should  cease  to  obey  her ; 
when  He  should  enter  upon  His  Fathers  busi- 
ness, and  look  to  her  no  more  for  commands 
and  instructions.  And  we  learn  that  Mary 
understood  this  first  foretaste  of  her  maternal 
sorrows :  she  "  kept  all  these  sayings  in  her 
heart ;"  she  understood,  as  never  before,  how 
little  He  was  hers,  and  how  entirely  He  was 
the  Son  of  God  ;  in  short — how  "  God,  who  in 


THE   SON   OF   MARY.  273 

times  past  spake  unto  the  fathers  by  the  pro- 
phets, had  in  these  last  days,  spoken  unto  us 
by  His  Son." 

So  it  was,  then,  that  Jesus  grew  in  wisdom, 
and  that  the  Lord  God  gave  unto  Him  the 
tongue  of  the  learned.  For  we  must  reflect, 
further,  that  though  perfect  God,  He  was  per- 
fect man ;  and  as  man,  He  required  instruction 
and  growth  in  wisdom.  His  human  soul  could 
daily  meditate,  as  man,  on  what  He  knew  as 
God.  There  was  no  clashing,  or  confusion  be- 
tween the  two  natures  of  His  one  divine  per- 
son :  yet,  at  the  same  time  He  was  in  the 
bosom  of  the  Father,  as  God,  while  as  man  He 
was  subject  to  the  law,  and  subject  to  His 
parents,  and  exercised  Himself  daily,  in  things 
divine,  to  prepare  Himself  for  His  ministry. 
Take  then  the  words  of  the  text,  as  a  holy 
soliloquy,  in  which  the  blessed  Jesus  describes 
to  Himself,  His  commerce  with  the  skies,  and 
the  blessed  purpose  of  His  mission  to  the  earth. 
"  The  Lord  God  hath  given  me  the  tongue 
of  the  learned :"  the  Father  hath  endowed 
my  human  nature  with  the  tongue  of  a  skilful 
ecribe,  so  "  that  I  may  speak  a  word  in  season 
to  him  that  is  weary."  And  compare  with  this 
assertion,  the  narrative  of  the  Evangelists. 
Was  not  His  tongue  wonderfully  eloquent,  in 


274  THE   SON   OF   MARY. 

subjects  requiring  the  knowledge  and  education 
of  a  Gamaliel  ?  How  often  did  the  carpenter^s 
son  confound  His  enemies,  with  amazing  know- 
ledge, as  well  as  wisdom  !  How  often  did  He 
disarm  the  lawyer,  using  against  him  weapons 
from  his  own  armory  of  the  law !  How  often 
were  scribes  and  doctors  silenced  by  Him,  with 
citations  out  of  the  prophets  and  the  Pentateuch, 
in  which  they  fancied  themselves  supremely 
learned.  You  remember  also  how  He  opened 
the  Scriptures  to  the  disciples,  after  He  was 
risen  from  the  dead;  how  their  hearts  burned 
within  them ;  and  how  often,  before,  it  had 
been  testified  concerning  Him,  "  never  man 
spake  like  this  man."  In  all,  no  doubt  it  was 
the  God,  as  well  as  the  man  that  spoke ;  yet 
always,  'twas  the  '^  tongue  of  the  learned,"  as 
well  as  the  wisdom  of  the  Most  High ;  'twas 
Jesus,  the  prophet  of  Israel. 

But  it  remains  to  be  noted,  that  the  gracious 
purpose,  for  which  our  Saviour  was  thus  pre- 
pared for  His  manifestation  to  Israel,  was  that 
He  "  should  know  how  to  speak  a  word  in  sea- 
son to  Him  that  is  weary."  How  different  the 
ends  of  human  learning!  How  haughty  is 
Science :  how  proud  is  Philosophy.  With  what 
disdain  they  turn  from  the  poor,  the  suffering, 
the  sorrowful,  the  dying,  and  cultivate  the  ap- 


THE  SOir   OF   MART.  275 

plause  of  prosperous  men,  and  the  favour  of 
princes !  But  He,  in  whom  are  comprehended 
all  wisdom,  and  all  knowledge,  takes  a  human 
body,  and  condescends  to  use  a  human  tongue, 
and  makes  it  the  tongue  of  the  learned,  all  for 
what  ?  Oh  the  depth  !  'Tis  only  that  He  may 
make  Himself  the  friend  of  publicans  and  sin- 
ners ;  only  that  He  may  bind  up  the  broken- 
hearted, and  comfort  the  sorrowful ;  only  that 
He  may  go  out  into  highways  and  hedges,  and 
bid  the  halt  and  the  maimed  to  His  marriage 
supper;  only  that  He  should  know  how  to 
speak  a  word  in  season  to  him  that  is  weary, 
as  He  did  when  He  said — "  Come  unto  me  all 
ye  that  labour,  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest." 

And  here,  for  a  moment,  let  me  magnify 
mine  office,  as  a  minister  of  Christ,  by  this 
amazing  example  of  God's  dear  Son.  You 
know  with  what  favour  the  world  regards  the 
achievements  of  science,  and  even  its  specula- 
tions and  theories.  You  know  how  eagerly  it 
pursues  its  novelties,  and  how  sick  it  grows  of 
the  old,  unaltered,  and  unalterable  Gospel. 
And  I  allow  that  science  is  indeed  sublime : 
it  is  a  great  thing  to  follow  her  in  her  pathway 
among  the  stars,  or  even  to  descend  with  her 
into  caves  beneath,  exploring  the  secrets  of 


276  THE   SON   OF   MARY. 

earth *s  dark  chambers,  and  bringing  treasures 
of  darkness  into  light.  But  all  these  things, 
and  infinitely  more  besides,  were  known 
familiarly  to  Him,  who  "was  in  the  begin- 
ning," and  "without  whom  was  not  anything 
m£lde,  that  was  made :"  and  yet,  when  He 
lived,  as  man  with  men,  and  when  "  the  Lord 
God  gave  Him  the  tongue  of  the  learned,"  was 
it  nature  that  He  undertook  to  expound  ?  Was 
it  astronomy,  or  geology,  or  even  the  philoso- 
phy of  states  and  empires,  that  He  assayed  to 
teach  mankind  ?  Oh  how  much  is  implied  in 
the  fact,  that  leaving  all  these  things  to  the 
"disputers  of  this  world,"  as  the  merest  trifles, 
comparatively,  Jesus  Christ,  received  from  His 
Father,  the  tongue  of  the  learned,  only  "  that 
He  should  know  how  to  speak  a  word  to 
the  w^eary."  What  does  it  argue  if  not  this — 
that  to  preach  the  Gospel  is  the  noblest  work 
that  can  employ  the  faculties  of  man,  or  angel, 
or  of  God?  What,  but  that  parents  should 
consecrate  their  offspring  to  the  work  to  which 
God  gave  His  only-begotten  ?  What,  but  that 
the  young  man  in  Christ  should  aspire  to  this 
as  the  most  worthy  employment  of  life? 
What,  but  that  to  receive,  and  understand,  and 
love  the  Gospel,  is  the  great  concern  of  the 
creature  !     What,  but  that  forsaking  all  other 


THE   SON   OF   MARY.  277 

studies,  all  other  learning,  all  other  eloquence, 
we  should,  first  of  all  things,  hear  the  Son  of 
Man,  addressing  us  with  the  tongue  of  the 
learned,  as  weary  and  heavy-laden  sinners,  and 
saying,  "  learn  of  me,  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly 
in  heart,  and  ye  shall  find  rest  unto  your 
souls?"  It  is,  perhaps,  scarcely  worthy  of  re- 
mark, that  as  a  man  and  a  teacher,  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  was,  indeed,  endowed  with  a  tongue 
which  was  "  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer ;"  but, 
among  His  miracles,  this,  surely,  should  be 
noted,  that,  "  having  never  learned,"  He  never- 
theless spake  with  surpassing  power,  and  used 
words  as  their  Lord  and  Creator.  What 
human  composition  can  be  compared  with  His 
sermon  on  the  mount :  what  language  was  ever 
so  complete  to  its  purpose,  yet  so  condensed, 
and  so  simple  as  that  of  the  Lord's  prayer  ? 
And  if  human  learning  will  enter  the  lists  with 
the  heavenly  doctrine  of  Christ,  I  cannot  but 
upbraid  it  with  its  comparative  poverty,  and 
bid  it  fall  into  its  place,  at  the  feet  of  Jesus, 
and  be  content  to  learn  of  Him.  The  tongue 
of  Christ,  has  unfolded  to  man  those  secrets 
which  no  glass  can  explore ;  which  no  compu- 
tation can  discover.  He  has  taught  us  that 
the  soul  of  a  beggar's  babe  is  more  precious 
than  the  stars ;  He  has  assured  us  of  its  im- 
24 


278  THE   SON   OF   MARY. 

mortality;  He  has  enabled  us  to  follow  its 
flight  from  earth  into  eternity;  He  has  revealed 
to  us  the  world  of  spirits ;  He  has  demonstrated 
the  resurrection  of  the  body;  and  has  ac- 
quainted us  with  the  doom  of  the  wicked,  and 
with  the  home  of  the  righteous  in  the  presence 
of  God.  More  than  all,  He  has  shown  us  how 
to  escape  eternal  misery,  and  how  to  secure 
eternal  life !  These  are  the  glorious  revela- 
tions of  Jesus :  that  He  might  make  us  wise 
unto  salvation,  and  teach  us  that  which  the 
world  by  wisdom  never  knew. 

With  this  foreshadowing  of  our  Saviour's 
mission  to  mankind,  it  may  be  well  to  compare 
the  ministry  which  He  actually  fulfilled.  From 
first  to  last  was  it  not  true  to  its  great  design, 
as  a  word  in  season  to  the  weary  ?  From  His 
manifestation  to  Israel,  at  His  baptism.  He  re- 
turns to  Nazareth,  where  He  was  brought-  up, 
to  begin  His  work.  There  He  was  well  known, 
from  thirty  years  of  humble  life,  and  labour, 
as  the  servant  of  His  parents.  But,  now,  He 
is  to  appear  in  a  new  character :  His  kinsfolk 
and  acquaintance  are  to  know  Him  no  more, 
except  as  ihey  may  know  Him  by  faith,  as 
their  Redeemer.  He  enters  the  synagogue, 
and  according  to  the  custom  of  the  Jews,  He 
takes  His  turn  to  read.    He  finds  in  the  volume 


THE   SON   OF   MART.  279 

of  the  book,  which  is  handed  to  Him  by  the 
Rabbi,  the  place  where  it  is  written — "  The 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because  He 
hath  anointed  me  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the 
poor :  He  hath  sent  me  to  heal  the  broken- 
hearted, to  preach  deliverance  to  the  captives, 
and  recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind ;  to  set  at 
liberty  them  that  are  bruised ;  to  preach  the 
acceptable  year  of  the  Lord."  When  He  had 
read  these  words,  He  began  to  preach  His 
first  sermon.  He  said — "  this  day  is  this 
Scripture  fulfilled  in  your  ears :"  and  the  evan- 
geHst  adds  that  "all  bare  Him  witness,  and 
wondered  at  the  gracious  words  that  proceeded 
out  of  His  mouth ;  and  they  said,  Is  not  this 
Joseph's  son?"  Yes,  indeed,  the  same  holy 
child  of  Nazareth ;  but,  lo !  "  the  Lord  God 
hath  given  unto  Him  the  tongue  of  the  learned, 
that  He  should  know  how  to  speak  a  word  in 
season  to  him  that  is  weary."  And  from  that 
moment,  till  He  closed  His  work,  by  dismissing 
to  paradise  the  weary  soul  of  the  thief  on 
the  cross,  how  closely  was  His  mission  con- 
formed to  this  its  merciful  plan!  What  is 
the  Gospel  but  a  record  of  His  ministry  to  the 
poor  and  needy;  to  the  Samaritan  and  the 
Canaanite;  the  publican  and  the  harlot ;  to  the 
leper,  and  the  possessed  of  devils !     To  these 

24 


280  THE   SON   OF  MAET. 

weary  and  heavy-laden  sinners  how  continually 
did  He  manifest  Himself  as  mighty  to  save ! 
Condescending  to  their  personal  griefs,  and 
ministering  to  their  sorrows  and  necessities, 
He  first  gained  their  sympathies,  and  then 
added  "  a  word  in  season,"  to  their  souls.  So 
He  would  still  be  manifested  to  the  world. 
The  Gospel  must  be  exhibited,  by  the  true 
believer,  in  deeds  of  love  and  compassion  to 
the  ignorant  and  poor,  and  then  preached 
as  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation,  to  which  the 
disconsolate  and  the  suffering  have  a  special 
claim. 

But  let  us  not  suppose  that  the  weary  to 
whom  Christ  thus  manifests  Himself  as  a 
Saviour,  are  only  those  who  suffer  from  bodily 
ills,  or  from  actual  poverty.  To  be  subjects 
of  Christ's  word  in  season,  we  have  only  to 
understand  our  wants  as  poor  and  needy  sin- 
ners, at  the  best,  whom  nothing  but  His  mercy 
can  save  from  being  poor  indeed,  through  all 
eternity.  Reflect  on  the  wants  of  your  im- 
mortal soul,  and  thank  God  that  He  has  not 
sent  His  Son  to  mock  you  with  the  tongue  of 
the  learned,  in  discoursing  things  that  can- 
not help  you  :  but  that  Jesus  meets  you  as  you 
are,  in  your  sins,  and  your  danger  of  judgment, 
and  offers  rest  to  your  souls.     Every  sinner  is 


THE   SON   OF   MARY.  281 

weary,  if  he  would  only  pause  in  his  chase  of 
folly,  and  confess  it  to  himself:  he  is  in  need 
of  just  such  a  helper  as  Christ:  and  to  such 
He  offers  Himself,  to  deliver  them  from  the 
bondage  of  Satan,  and  to  give  them,  instead,  a 
yoke  which  is  easy,  and  a  burthen  that  is 
light. 

I  beseech  you  then,  acquaint  yourself  with 
Christ  in  His  true  character,  and  be  persuaded 
to  learn  of  Him,  as  alone  able  to  give  you  rest. 
It  is  the  purpose  of  this  holy  season,  thus  to 
manifest  Him,  as  He  is.  Let  this  message  then 
be  a  word  in  season  to  your  souls.  Behold 
Him  as  your  Saviour,  and  accept  Him,  while  it 
is  called  to-day.  The  season  of  grace  is  rapidly 
passing:  His  word  to  the  weary  must  be  ac- 
cepted soon  or  never :  and  oh  how  weary  shall 
eternal  ages  prove,  to  those  who  refuse  it  now, 
while  it  is  the  accepted  time ;  now,  while  it  is 
the  day  of  salvation. 
24* 


SERMON  XIY. 


THE    GOD    OF    THE     FAITHFUL. 


SECOND    SUNDAY    AFTER    THE    EPIPHANY. 


Vbeily  Thou  art  a  God  that  hidest  thyself,  oh  God  of  Israel, 
THE  Saviour. — Isaiah  xlv.  15. 


What  is  sometimes  called  Natural  Eeligion 
is  contented  with  discovering  a  Creator,  in  the 
displays  of  wisdom  and  power  which  abound  in 
the  visible  universe.  But  no  one  need  attribute 
much  sagacity  to  the  philosopher  whose  dis- 
coveries are  limited  by  a  fact  which  stares 
everybody  in  the  face,  and  which  one  would 
think  a  fool  might  recognize,  as  he  does  the 
sun.  True  it  is  that  "  the  invisible  things  of 
God  are  clearly  seen,  being  understood  by  the 
things  that  are  made,  even  His  eternal  power 
and  Godhead ;"  but  this  is  only  half  the  truth, 
unless,  indeed,  "we  have  followed  cunningly 
devised  fables,"  in  believing  that  the  God  of 
Nature  is  also  the  God  of  Revelation.  The 
(282) 


THE  GOD  OF  THE  FAITHFUL.  283 

psalmist,  while  he  teaches  us  to  rejoice  in  the 
manifestations  of  God  through  creation ;  to  see 
His  glory  in  the  heavens,  and  His  handiwork 
in  the  firmament;  makes  this  eulogy  of  the 
starry  worlds,  a  mere  preface  to  his  nobler 
tribute  to  the  law  of  God,  and  the  manifestation 
of  His  Gospel.  Thus  where  the  religion  of  the 
senses  stops  short,  the  religion  of  faith  only 
begins  to  expatiate,  and  to  exult  in  its  boundless 
prospect.  The  eye  of  the  philosopher  takes  in 
a  view  of  material  objects,  and  says  there  must 
be  a  Creator;  but  the  faith  of  the  Christian  puts 
forth  wings,  and  mounts  into  the  third  heaven, 
and  there  discovers  and  enjoys,  what  no  glass 
can  descry,  even  the  knowledge  of  God  in  His 
essence,  and  His  character,  in  His  attributes, 
and  His  glory.  Thus  even  sense  is  forced  to 
cry  out,  "  how  manifest  is  God  !''  But  Faith 
responds — "  how  much  more  He  is  hidden !" 
Even  this  bad  world  is  beautiful,  and  is  girt 
about  with  light  as  with  a  garment,  and  is  at- 
tended by  planets  and  constellations  in  its 
wondrous  path  through  space;  and  when  we 
behold  it,  as  a  work  of  infinite  wisdom  and 
Almighty  power,  we  are  forced  to  see  its  Maker 
manifested,  and  to  confess  His  greatness  and 
His  majesty.  But  faith  teaches  us  that  nature 
is,  after  all,  a  screen  rather  than  a  crystal,  in- 


284  THE   GOD   OF   THE   FAITHFUL. 

terposed  between  earth  and  heaven.  There  is 
a  God  who  works  behind  the  veil,  whom  all 
these  visible  glories  utterly  fail  to  display  as 
He  is.  Much  as  we  know  of  Him,  through 
observation  and  reflection,  He  is  infinitely 
greater,  and  more  marvellous,  than  we  can 
conceive  as  the  result  of  unaided  perception. 
'Tis  the  Gospel  alone  that  manifests  Him,  in 
some  degree,  as  He  is ;  and  till  we  come  to  the 
Gospel  we  cannot  do  better  than  to  confess  our 
dissatisfaction  with  all  we  can  see,  and  know 
of  our  Creator.  Led  on  from  step  to  step,  from 
star  to  star,  from  thought  to  thought,  we  still 
fail  to  find  out  God ;  and  in  full  view  of  ten 
thousand  glories  that  fall  short  of  exhibiting 
the  God  of  our  Salvation,  we  are  forced  still  to 
seek  Him,  and  to  long  after  Him,  exclaiming. 
Verily  Thou  art  a  God  that  hidest  thyself ,  oh 
God! 

The  text,  however,  enables  us  to  go  farther, 
and  to  add  that  even  the  God  of  Revelation  is 
a  God  that  still  hides  more  than  He  reveals. 
The  prophet  knows  the  Creator  as  "  the  God 
of  Israel,"  and  "the  Saviour,"  and  yet  He  finds 
reason  to  ejaculate,  "  verily  Thou  art  a  God 
that  hidest  thyself."  Let  us  observe  the  con- 
nections of  the  text.  It  is  one  of  those  fine 
lyrical  interjections,  in  which  the  sacred  poets 


THE   GOD   OF   THE   FAITHFUL.  285 

deal  so  largely.  The  inspired  prophet  is 
pouring  forth  his  revelations,  in  a  fervid  strain 
of  promise,  which  comes  to  him  directly  from 
the  Spirit,  and  fills  him,  while  he  speaks  for 
others,  with  personal  emotions  of  rapture  and 
joy.  Catching  the  great  idea,  he,  as  it  were, 
responds  to  the  Spirit,  in  the  language  of  the 
text ;  and  what  he  responds,  as  a  man,  he  is 
permitted  to  record,  as  a  prophet.  He  is  fore- 
telling the  issues  of  the  Captivity ;  the  myste- 
rious providences  of  God  in  restoring  the  Jews, 
through  the  instrumentality  of  Cyrus,  to  their 
own  land;  and  the  divine  purpose,  in  over- 
ruling all  things,  in  this  way,  for  the  further- 
ance of  His  plans,  and  the  accomplishment  of 
His  promise,  in  finally  manifesting  the  Re- 
deemer. Such  a  revelation,  at  this  moment, 
was  like  life  from  the  dead.  When  the  temple 
was  destroyed  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  and  the 
Hebrews  carried  into  Babylon,  there,  as  it 
seemed  to  the  unbelieving,  was  an  end  of  the 
matter.  Where  then  was  the  God  of  Israel  ? 
Where  was  the  oath  that  was  sworn  to, 
Abraham?  Where  was  the  Saviour?  In 
process  of  time  God  vouchsafes  to  explain  Him- 
self to  His  people,  through  His  prophet.  In 
spite  of  the  sins  which  had  brought  all  this 
upon  them,  He  is  still  true  to  His  Covenant. 


286  THE   GOD   OF   THE   FAITHFUL. 

He  assures  them  that  He  will  fulfil  all  His 
promises,  and  overrule  their  very  punishment 
to  final  good.  Their  captivity  shall  make  the 
Gentiles  better  understand  the  mission  of  the 
Jews,  as  ministers  of  God,  to  all  mankind.  It 
shall  be  the  great  link,  in  a  long  chain  of 
providences,  which  shall  eventually  lead  Sa- 
beans,  and  Egyptians,  and  Ethiopians,  to  come 
bending  unto  Israel,  and  saying — "  surely  God 
is  in  thee,  and  there  is  none  else."  Thus  this 
dark  and  trying  hour  of  Israel's  humiliation  is 
to  result  in  attracting  the  Gentiles  to  His  light 
and  kings  to  the  brightness  of  His  rising.  All 
this  comes  to  the  prophet,  like  an  electric  an- 
nouncement from  the  court  of  heaven.  Fired 
with  the  message,  and  smitten  with  a  sense  of 
God's  wise  and  benevolent  purposes,  even  in 
His  most  secret  and  mysterious  providences, 
he  answers —  Verily  Thou  art  a  God  that  hidest 
Thyself,  oh  God  of  Israel,  the  Saviour !  Who 
could  have  suspected  thy  counsels,  or  dreamed 
of  thy  marvellous  fidelity  to  thy  promise, 
amid  all  the  rebellions  and  punishments  of  thy 
people  !  But  lo !  now  I  perceive  thy  hidden 
wisdom.  The  wrath  of  man  is  turned  to  thy 
praise.  How  wicked  it  is  to  judge  thee  rashly; 
to  interpret  thy  ways  superficially  !  "  Thou 
art  a  God  that  hidest  Thyself."    Thy  ways  are 


THE   GOD  OF   THE   FAITHFUL.  287 

not  as  our  ways,  nor   thy  thoughts,  as   our 
thoughts. 

But  it  would  be  a  use  of  the  text  both  low 
and  servile,  to  confine  it  to  the  one  event 
with  which  it  is  connected  in  its  origin.  The 
incident  which  gives  it  birth  is  but  an  accident 
of  its  existence.  As  a  great  truth  it  stands  by 
itself,  in  the  inspired  page,  demanding  recog- 
nition as  a  general  law  of  God,  in  His  provi- 
dences. Nay,  it  is  a  sublime  abstraction,  in 
which  we  may  see  something  asserted  of  God, 
essentially,  as  the  object  of  faith,  and  not  of 
sense  and  sight.  "  Verily  thou  art  a  God  that 
hidest  thyself"  Here  is  a  characteristic  of  the 
true  God,  which  must  be  taken  as  a  foundation 
principle  in  interpreting  nature,  or  revelation, 
or  divine  providence.  The  invisible  Jehovah 
is  to  be  received  by  faith  only.  He  is  to  be  be- 
held by  faith,  and  approached  by  faith,  and 
adored  by  faith,  and  loved  by  faith  ;  and  by 
faith,  only,  can  He  be  properly  conceived  of, 
or  understood,  until  the  day  when  fiiith  shall 
be  superseded  by  sight,  and  our  partial  know 
ledge  changed  into  the  fruition  of  His  glorious 
Godhead.  I  propose  to  illustrate  the  text 
more  fully,  by  connecting  it  with  what  God  has 
revealed  to  us  of  his  nature;  with  what  is 
manifested  in  His  Gospel;  and  with  what  is 


288  THE   GOD   OF   THE   FAITHFUL. 

concealed  from  us  in   the   ordinances  of  his 
providence. 

The  God  of  natural  religion  is  a  meagre  unit. 
The  God  of  faith  is  indeed  One,  but  one  in  a 
unity  which  surpasses  reason,  being  a  oneness 
of  substance,  with  a  Trinity  of  person.  But 
to  this  sublime  and  mysterious  conception  of 
God,  the  man  of  mere  sight  objects.  He  asks 
why  he  should  thus  conceive  of  God  as  incon- 
ceivable. He  wants  a  divinity  that  he  can 
comprehend;  which  his  own  finite  powers  can. 
contain  and  carry ;  and  he  complains  that  the 
Gospel  exacts  of  him  at  the  outset,  to  believe  a 
God  that  he  cannot  comprehend.  But  the  text 
suggests  a  truth  which  is  at  once,  to  such  a 
man,  a  reproof  and  an  explanation.  It  is  a 
reproof,  as  suggesting  what  we  ought  to  know, 
the  fact  that  God  cannot  be  fully  revealed  to  a 
finite  mind.  He  is  of  necessity  hidden  from 
our  feeble  intelligence,  by  His  vastness.  His 
immensity.  His  comprehensiveness.  He  is  a 
God  that  hides  Himself,  because  He  has  made 
His  creatures  with  powers  too  limited  to  contain 
Him,  and  we  are  foolish  if  we  are  not  aware 
that  such  is  the  case;  and  yet,  I  say,  there 
is  an  explanation,  or  even  an  apology,  in  the 
text ;  for  it  seems  to  say  to  man,  do  not  be  con- 
founded at  God's  mysterious  providence,  since 


THE   GOD  OF  THE  FAITHFUL.  289 

you  know  that  He  is  all  mystery.  In  short, 
He  cannot  reveal  Himself  to  such  an  one  as 
you  are,  till  He  has  new  created  you.  Hr 
hideth  Himself  in  consideration  of  your  weaL 
ness.  If  it  becomes  necessary  to  reveal  F'-ii- 
self  in  one  point,  lo !  He  only  reveals  a  )  ys- 
tery  which  staggers  you.  The  more  you  see 
of  Him  the  more  you  are  confounded.  So  He 
hideth  Himself.  In  His  nature  there  are  ten 
thousand  mj^steries.  Of  these  He  imparts  to 
your  faith  only  just  so  many  as  are  requisite 
to  the  understanding  of  His  Gospel,  and  no 
more.  He  does  not  delight  to  try  you  with 
incomprehensibilities.  On  the  contrary  He 
spares  you.  There  are  truths  of  the  Gospel 
which  require  the  revelation  of  some  mysteri- 
ous facts,  such  as  the  Trinity  of  God.  This, 
then,  He  discloses :  and  He  discloses  no  more 
than  practically  concerns  you.  The  innumera- 
ble mysteries  of  His  nature  which  it  is  not 
necessary  for  us  to  believe  formally,  in  order  to 
understand  His  Gospel,  these  He  reserves  and 
conceals.  It  is  in  love,  then,  and  fatherly  com- 
passion, that  "  He  is  a  God  that  hideth  Him- 
self" 

Let  shallow   unbelief  receive   its  sufficient 
answer,  then,  in  a   statement   of  this    truth. 
"  Why,"  says  one,  "  why  is  it  that  God  leaves 
25 


290  THE   GOD  OF  THE  FAITHFUL. 

US  SO  much  in  the  dark  about  Himself,  and 
tells  us  so  very  little  that  we  can  comprehend  ?" 
The  answer  is,  the  more  He  tells  you,  the  less 
you  comprehend.  The  more  He  reveals,  the 
more  faith  do  we  require.  What  a  mere  idol 
he  worships,  who  adores  only  what  He  under- 
stands !  Who  could  desire  a  God,  whose  whole 
nature  and  entire  being  could  be  unfolded  in 
an  axiom,  and  carried  in  the  little  head  of  a 
village  schoolmaster?  Yet  such  is  the  portable 
and  convenient  divinity  which  misbelief 
preaches,  and  which  unbelief  demands !  No 
graven  image  is  more  contemptible.  Away 
with  such  an  idol  to  the  moles  and  to  the  bats ! 
The  Christian  basks  in  the  sunlight  of  a  coun- 
tenance, to  which  he  cannot  lift  his  eye,  and 
lives  in  a  warmth  which  he  is  contented  to  feel 
and  to  love,  but  of  which  the  mysterious 
source,  he  knows,  is  not  to  be  explored. 

The  mystery  of  the  Trinity  is  sometimes 
spoken  of  as  if  it  were  a  gratuitous  demand 
upon  our  credulity.  They  who  deny  it  seem  to 
take  it  for  ganted  that  it  is  arbitrarily  proposed, 
simply  to  try  the  believer's  faith.  The  con- 
trary is  the  fact,  and  we  may  safely  say,  that 
true  as  it  is,  it  never  would  have  been  revealed, 
had  not  its  reception  been  necessary  to  a  re- 
ception of  the  Gospel.     In  the  Gospel,  we  are 


THE  GOD   OF   THE   FAITHFUL.  291 

fully  introduced  to  three  separate  Persons,  each 
of  whom  is  called  God,  and  is  worshipped,  and 
whom  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  know  in  the 
Christian  dispensation,  in  order  to  a  reception 
of  His  offices.  Hence,  for  practical  purposes, 
God,  who  had  always  declared  His  unity  of 
substance,  was  pleased  to  unfold  His  personal 
Trinity.  While  the  Gospel  was  yet  in  element, 
and  while  a  full  exhibition  of  Christ,  and  of 
the  Spirit,  did  not  tax  the  believer's  faith  in 
the  divine  unity,  it  pleased  God  to  reveal  no 
more  than  might  afterwards  demonstrate  the 
consistency  of  His  truth.  The  patriarchs  knew 
of  God  as  a  mysterious  unity,  but  could  not 
have  explained  dogmatically  in  what  that 
mystery  consisted.  It  was  not,  as  yet,  neces- 
sary to  them,  to  know  the  truth  more  fully, 
because  nothing  in  the  facts  of  religion,  as  then 
revealed,  and  the  ordinances  then  established, 
required  that  knowledge  of  the  divine  nature, 
which  the  fulness  of  the  Gospel  necessarily  in- 
volves. Under  Moses,  we  see  a  much  more  dis- 
criminating view  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Spirit, 
than  appears  in  the  preceding  dispensation. 
The  Trinity  was  felt,  if  not  perceived,  in  some- 
thing like  its  distinct  and  doctrinal  form.  But 
when  the  Son  at  last  was  manifested,  and  be- 
came, personally,  the  direct  object  of  faith  and 

25 


292  THE   GOD   OF   THE   FAITHFUL. 

worship  to  the  world ;  when,  at  the  Epiphany 
of  His  baptism,  the  Holy  Ghost  descended 
personally,  upon  the  Son  in  a  visible  shape ; 
and  when,  at  the  same  moment,  the  voice  of 
the  Father  shook  the  heavens,  crying  from  the 
excellent  glory,  "  This  is  my  beloved  Son ;" 
then,  and  thenceforth,  the  mystery  of  the 
Trinity  was  revealed  to  faith,  because  then, 
and  thenceforth,  it  was  evident  that  either 
there  were  three  gods,  which  God  had  declared 
false  from  the  beginning;  or  else,  that  in  the 
acknowledged  mystery  of  His  one  substance 
was  the  fact  of  tri-personality.  In  the  Chris- 
tian dispensation  this  fact  is  no  longer  con- 
cealed, simply  because,  in  the  economy  of  the 
Gospel,  each  divine  person  is  intimately  con- 
cerned with  each  individual  believer,  in  per- 
sonal offices,  and  through  corresponding  sacra- 
ments, arid  if  we  would  be  saved,  we  must 
know,  accordingly,  the  Father  and  the  Son 
and  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  know  them  as  one 
only  living  and  true  God.  Do  you  ask  that 
this  mystery  may  be  further  unfolded  ?  Then, 
you  merely  ask  to  be  further  confounded.  The 
existence  of  Goo  is  a  mystery  to  begin  with. 
Why  does  He  not  unfold  that  ?  His  unity  is 
another  mystery,  and  one  which,  to  some  ex- 
tent, He  has  consented  to  unfold;  but,  in  so 


THE   GOD   OF   THE   FAITHFUL.  293 

doing,  He  has  of  necessity  revealed  His  Tiimty^ 
and  you  are  the  more  overwhelmed !  If  He 
should  go  on,  'twould  only  be  to  burthen  us 
with  further  mysteries,  and  with  such  as  it 
does  not  concern  us  to  know.  Behold,  then, 
how  considerate  is  our  heavenly  Father !  He 
gives  us  nothing  concerning  Himself,  to  be 
taken  on  trust,  further  than  is  necessary  to  the 
reception  of  His  Son,  and  His  Spirit  in  their 
power  and  Godhead.  And  even  this  great 
mystery  He  unveils  so  gradually  to  our  weak 
faith,  that  as  we  behold  its  insufferable  glory, 
we  are  rather  smitten  with  what  remains  to  be 
known,  than  with  what  we  know  already. 
We  look,  indeed,  for  the  beatific  vision,  as 
what  is  reserved  for  our  ultimate  knowledge, 
but  meanwhile,  we  are  content  to  worship 
what  we  do  not  comprehend,  saying.  Verily 
thou  art  a  Qod  that  hidest  thyself,  oh  God  of 
Israel,  the  Saviour! 

But  useful  as  is  the  text,  in  accounting  for 
much  that  belongs  to  the  Divine  nature,  in  its 
essence,  it  is  more  specially  applicable  to  the 
Incarnation,  for  to  that  it  is  directed  by  the 
prophet.  The  whole  passage  is  prophetic  of 
the  Epiphany,  or  manifestation  of  Christ. 
But  consider  for  a  moment,  the  nature  of  that 
Epiphany.      "The   Word    was    made   flesh." 


294  THE   GOD   OF   THE   FAITHFUL. 

Even  so,  "for  verily  thou  art  a  Goi>  that 
hide.st  thyself,  oh  God  of  Israel,  the  Saviour/* 
Who  would  not  have  said  that  God,  coming 
down  to  men,  should  have  done  so  in  all  the 
brightness  of  His  majesty,  shaking  the  heavens, 
and  illuminating  the  earth?  Instead  of  this, 
He  whose  name  is  Wonderful  becomes  a  little 
child ;  the  Mighty  God  is  a  helpless  babe  ;  the 
Everlasting  Father  is  the  son  of  Mary.  He  is 
manifested  indeed,  but  it  is  to  faith  and  not  to 
sight.  To  the  natural  man  "  the  light  shineth 
in  darkness,  and  the  darkness  comprehendeth 
it  not.''  Faith  only,  "  beholds  His  glory,  the 
glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father, 
full  of  grace  and  truth."  The  Epiphany  was 
an  appeal  to  faith :  hence,  to  thousands  who 
saw  the  incarnate  God  He  was  not  manifested, 
and  to  millions  who  have  heard  His  Gospel, 
He  is  yet  unknown.  The  Incarnation  implies 
a  mysterious  concealment  of  the  divine  glory, 
which  faith  only  can  penetrate.  God  hid  Him- 
self His  kingdom  came,  "not  with  observa- 
tion." The  Virgin  was  obscure  and  lowly ;  her 
spouse,  the  carpenter ;  their  city  was  Nazareth ; 
and  all  the  accidents  of  the  nativity  were  con- 
founding to  mere  sense.  Not  the  inn,  but 
the  manger ;  not  poverty,  but  want ;  not  bare 
humanity,  but  "the  form  of  a  servant ;**  these 


TUE   GOD   OF   THE   FAITHFUL.  295 

were  the  tokens  of  Jehovah's  presence.  Verily 
thou  art  a  Qod  that  hidest  thyself,  oh  God  of 
Israel,  the  Saviour. 

I  said  the  text  was  specially  appropriate  to 
the  Incarnation ;  and  this  view  of  it  is  sustained 
not  only  by  the  context,  but  by  its  very  terms, 
as  addressed  to  "the  Saviour."  Here  is  the 
mediatorial  system ;  the  God  of  Israel,  and  the 
Saviour  of  all  the  world,  and  the  Man  Christ 
Jesus,  exhibited  as  one  and  the  same  in  a  single 
oracle,  and  addressed  as  the  hidden  God,  whom 
we  worship  as  manifested.  The  implication 
seems  to  be  that  His  divinity,  and  His  media- 
torial offices  should  be  revealed  to  faith  only ; 
should  be  always  unintelligible  to  sensual  and 
carnal  minds;  to  all  such  as  "Miave  not  the 
Spirit."  From  the  very  beginning  of  the  Gospel 
it  has  been  so :  and  the  venerable  Saint  Ignatius, 
who  received  his  doctrine  immediately  from 
the  Apostles,  and  sealed  it  with  his  blood,  in 
the  Coliseum,  at  Rome,  says  accordingly — 
"  Let  my  life  be  sacrificed  for  the  doctrine  of 
the  Cross,  which  is  indeed  a  scandal  to  the 
unbelievers,  but  to  us  is  salvation,  and  life 
eternal.  .  .  .  For  the  virginity  of  Mary  and 
He  who  was  born  of  her,  were  kept  in  secret 
from  the  prince  of  this  world,  as  was  also  the 
death  of  our  Lord  ;  three  of  the  mysteries  most 


296  THE   GOD  OF   THE   FAITHFUL. 

spoken  of  throughout  the  world,  yet  done  in 
secret  by  God."  See,  then,  how  the  secret  was 
manifested.  To  sight,  He  was  "  of  no  reputa- 
tion ;"  to  the  world,  He  was  the  Nazarene ;  He 
was  lightly  esteemed ;  He  was  a  Galilsean,  a 
Samaritan,  a  demoniac ;  last  of  all  He  was  the 
Crucified.  It  required  faith,  to  see  Him,  all 
the  while,  as  the  Son  of  David  y  the  God  of 
Israel,  the  Saviour.  Hence  the  large  rewards 
of  their  faith,  who  "saw  His  glory"  through 
the  veil  of  His  flesh.  It  required  large  faith, 
the  fiiith  of  an  Israelite  indeed,  to  say  to  the 
carpenter's  Son,  "  Eabbi,  thou  art  the  Son  of 
God,  thou  art  the  King  of  Israel."  It  was 
strong  faith  that  spoke  when  St.  Peter  said, 
"  Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living 
God."  And  oh,  what  a  victory  over  the  world, 
and  the  flesh,  and  the  devil,  is  seen  in  the  faith 
of  the  poor  thief,  who  discerned  "  the  God  of 
Israel,  his  Saviour,"  in  the  agonizing  victim 
who  was  hanging  upon  the  cross,  beside  him, 
numbered  with  transgressors,  and  "pouring 
out  His  soul  unto  death."  Pilate,  who  walked 
only  by  sight,  supposed  he  had  written  a  bitter 
jest,  when  he  set  over  His  head,  "  His  accusa- 
tion," as  "King  of  the  Jews,"  but  the  poor 
thief  saw  a  better  handwriting  nailed  to  His 
i.ross,  and  interpreted   the   inscription,   in   its 


THE   GOD  OF   THE   FAITHFUL.  297 

truth,  when  he  said,  in  faith,  Lord,  "  remember 
rae,  vrhen  thou  comest  into  thy  kingdom." 

Oh,  my  brethren,  we  sometimes  complain  as 
if  God  hid  himself  only  from  us.  We  forget 
the  blessing  pronounced  on  them  who  having 
not  seen  Him  have  believed,  and  we  speak  as 
if  it  would  have  been  good  for  us  to  have  had 
our  portion  in  the  days  of  His  flesh.  We  say, 
as  the  Jews  did  concerning  the  prophets,  that 
if  we  had  lived  in  those  days,  we  should  not 
have  done  as  they  did,  who  crucified  the  Lord 
of  glory.  But  observe,  from  these  instances, 
as  well  as  from  others,  that  it  required  faith, 
then,  just  as  it  does  now,  to  discern  the  Saviour. 
Is  it  not  easier,  in  fact,  to  believe  that  Christ 
sitteth  at  the  right  hand  of  the  Father,  tban^ 
against  all  pre-conceived  impressions,  to  be 
called  to  behold  Him  in  a  manger,  and  to 
worship  Him  in  the  person  of  a  babe  ?  Is  it 
more  difhcult,  now,  to  seek  Him  in  the  closet, 
or  to  find  Him  among  "  two  or  three,"  than  it 
was  in  the  days  when  He  withdrew  Himself, 
and  disclosed  His  personal  presence  only  to 
Mary,  and  her  sister,  and  Lazarus?  Is  faith 
more  tried  when  bidden  to  approach  Him 
through  the  sacraments,  than  it  was  when  the 
clay  and  the  spittle,  or  the  hem  of  His  garment, 
or  a  few  loaves  and  fishes,  were*  made  tests  of 


298  THE   GOD   OF   THE   FAITHFUL. 

a  spirit  to  be  enlightened,  and  healed,  and  fed? 
When  did  Christ  so  reveal  Himself  that  un- 
belief could  not  murmur,  and  find  a  pretence 
for  refusing  His  claims  ?  Or,  when  did  faith 
discover  Him,  in  all  the  glory  of  His  Godhead, 
or  in  all  the  sufficiency  of  His  atonement,  ex- 
cept as  something  discovered  indeed?  some- 
thing unsuspected,  at  first;  then  dimly  seen, 
"  as  trees  walking;"  and  only,  at  last,  discerned 
as  hidden  treasures  of  knowledge,  and  wisdom, 
and  redemption,  and  sanctification  ?  Or  when 
was  He  otherwise,  than  "disallowed  indeed  of 
men,  but  chosen  of  God,  and  precious :"  to  the 
world  a  stone  of  stumbling,  but  to  the  be- 
liever "  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation,"  the 
God  that  hldetJi  Himself ,  the  Qod  of  Israel,  the 
Saviour  ? 

Our  review  of  these  important  truths  may 
teach  us  the  necessity  of  a  lively  faith  in  God, 
as  He  is,  and  as  He  is  revealed  to  us  in  Holy 
Scripture.  But  the  text  connects  with  a 
sublime  discovery  of  wisdom  and  mercy  in  a 
dark  providence  which  had,  apparently,  frus- 
trated all  God's  promises  and  destroyed  His 
Church,  and  it  may,  therefore,  be  properly 
turned  to  account,  in  a  practical  way,  as 
teaching  us  trust  in  God,  amid  the  dark  and 
trying  circumstances  of  tbe  Church,  in  our  own 


THE  GOD  OF  THE  FAITHFUL.  299 

times.  In  fact  it  is  a  good  motto  for  a  Chris- 
tian amid  the  trials  of  his  own  personal  expe- 
rience :  Verily  Thou  art  a  God  that  hidest  Thy^ 
self.  It  is  not  possible  but  that  all  things 
should  work  together  for  good,  to  a  child  of 
God,  but  how  often  God  is  pleased  to  work  our 
good  in  His  own  wise  way,  and  not  at  all  ac- 
cording to  our  ways  and  thoughts  !  So  with 
the  Church.  God  is  working  out  the  great 
ends  for  which  it  exists,  and  He  will  surely 
fulfil  all  the  precious  promises  which  He  has 
made  to  His  spouse.  Even  its  sins,  its  dis- 
graces, the  very  captivity  into  which  some  of 
its  children  have  fallen,  will  be  overruled,  and 
made  to  bring  about  the  glorious  result  of  a 
general  return  to  the  good  confession  of  the 
faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints.  When  the 
text  was  written,  as  w^e  have  already  remarked, 
the  Church  of  the  Hebrews  apj^)eared  to  have 
failed,  and  to  have  become  extinct.  It  was 
long  since  her  children  had  offered  a  sacrifice, 
or  kept  a  passover.  A  w^hole  generation  had 
passed  away  since  the  ordinances  of  the  Law 
had  been  observed,  as  the  Lord  commanded 
Moses.  Scarcely  any  were  left  of  those  who 
first  hung  their  harps  upon  the  willows  of 
Euphrates,  and  wept  to  remember  Zion.  Ap- 
parently, God  had  left  His  noble  vine  to  de- 


800  THE   GOD   OF   THE   FAITHFUL. 

struction  :  the  wild-boar  out  of  the  woods  had 
rooted  it  up.  But,  now,  it  pleased  God  to  un- 
fold to  Isaiah  some  of  His  plans;  the  results  of 
Daniel's  ministry ;  the  raising  up  of  Cyrus  to 
perform  all  His  pleasure ;  the  restoration  of 
the  Jews,  and  the  rebuilding  of  the  temple; 
the  final  appearance  of  the  promised  Star  of 
Jacob,  and  the  gathering  of  the  nations  to 
become  partakers  of  the  faith,  and  covenant, 
of  Abraham.  Thus  the  prophet  beheld  the 
hand  of  God  working  always  underneath  the 
surface  of  human  events.  And  so  we  should 
do.  In  the  Apocalypse — that  neglected  book 
which  it  is  so  blessed  to  study,  endowed  as  it 
is  with  special  benedictions  upon  him  that 
readeth — we  are  furnished  with  an  intelligible 
outline,  of  the  history  of  the  Church  militant, 
its  trials  and  sufferings,  and  of  the  perils  to 
which  the  faith  of  individual  Christians  must 
be  exposed.  We  can  understand  much  of  it, 
much  more  than  is  generally  supposed ;  and 
by  it  we  may  greatly  strengthen  our  faith,  and 
fortify  our  patience,  in  times  when  all  that  is 
evil  seems  to  have  the  mastery.  This,  at 
least,  it  makes  clear — the  fact  that  nothing 
happens  by  chance ;  that  God  has  provided  for 
all  emergencies;  that  He  has  a  plan,  and  is 
pursuing  it  to  the  end  ;  and  that  if  we  fail  to 


THE  GOD   OF   THE   FAITHFUL.  301 

trace  it,  we  may  still  safely  confide  in  His 
word,  and  say  with  Isaiah,  "  Verily  Thou  art  a 
God  that  hidest  Thyself,  oh  God  of  Israel,  the 
Saviour." 

I  know  that  all  Christians  are  by  no  means 
watchers  of  the  providences  of  God  on  this 
large  scale.  They  very  little  conceive  of  their 
relations  to  the  great  work  of  God  in  the  world, 
and  in  fact,  limit  their  thoughts  to  their  own 
salvation.  But  the  times  are  fast  becoming 
such  as  will  force  the  faithful  to  think  more 
earnestly,  and  feel  more  earnestly,  and  live 
more  earnestly  ;  more  like  Daniel  in  captivity, 
and  less  like  men  that  "stretch  themselves 
upon  their  couches,"  or  like  "  careless  daugh- 
ters," and  "  women  that  dwell  at  ease."  Mean- 
time, I  suppose  that  no  Christian  absolutely 
escapes  great  trials  of  his  faith  in  view  of  much 
that  he  is  forced  to  observe,  amid  the  changes 
and  chances  of  ordinary  life.  For  example 
who  has  not  been  led  to  marvel  at  the  delays 
of  the  divine  justice  in  the  avenging  of  the  in- 
nocent, and  the  punishment  of  wicked  men? 
Who  has  not  been  astonished  at  the  prosperity 
of  the  ungodly;  the  afflictions  of  the  righteous ; 
the  inequalities  of  human  society;  "the  op- 
pression of  the  poor,  and  violent  perverting  of 
judgment  and  justice,  in  a  province;"  and  the 


302  THE   GOD   OF   TUE   FAITHFUL. 

protracted  sufferings  of  humanity,  in  general? 
Where  is  the  Christian  that  never  sighed  over 
the  prevailing  heathenism  of  more  than  half 
the  world  ?  Who  does  not  have  moments  of 
painful  suspense,  in  view  of  the  apparent  in- 
competency to  their  purpose  of  the  means  of 
grace  ?  Who  never  falters  in  considering  the 
failure  of  the  Gospel,  thus  far,  to  achieve  all 
that  it  seemed  to  promise  the  world,  when  it 
came  as  glad- tidings  of  peace  and  good- will? 
Who  never  smites  his  breast,  when  he  beholds 
the  deadness  and  coldness  of  almost  all  Chris- 
tians, himself  included,  in  connection  with  that 
solemn  question  which  our  blessed  Lord  so  im- 
pressively evaded — "Are  there  few  that  be 
saved  ?"  Oh  why  are  such  things  permitted  ? 
Why  does  the  world  go  on  in  sin  ?  Why  does 
God  wait,  and  postpone,  and  forbear  to  inter- 
fere ?  Even  so,  Lord,  how  long  dost  thou  not 
avenge  thine  own  elect  who  cry  day  and 
night  unto  thee,  few  though  they  are,  and 
hidden  though  they  be?  The  answer  is, 
simply,  that  of  St.  Augustine ;  "  God  is  patient 
because  He  is  eternal :"  or  this  of  the  prophet ; 
"  Yerily  thou  art  a  God  that  hidest  thyself,  oh 
God  of  Israel." 

But  finally,  beloved,  how  sublime  the  truth 
that  the  law  by  which  God  upholds  and  directs 


THE  GOD  OF  THE   FAITHFUL.  303 

the  worlds,  is  the  same  by  which  a  sparrow 
falls*  and  that  while  both  worlds  and  sparrows 
are  equally  subjects  of  His  providence,  they 
are  alike,  as  nothing,  in  His  account,  to  the 
interests  of  a  single  soul.  I  may  apply  the 
doctrine  of  the  text,  therefore,  with  confidence 
and  hope  to  my  personal  trials  as  an  immortal, 
and  as  one  whom  the  precious  blood  of  Christ 
has  redeemed.  Yes,  however  poor  I  may  be, 
how  ever  unfortunate,  however  despised  of  men, 
I  am  still,  the  direct  object  of  a  love  which  has 
moved  the  universe,  which  has  bowed  the 
heavens,  and  come  down  to  earth,  and  which 
constantly  occupies  itself  with  my  personal  in- 
terests, even  to  the  numbering  of  the  very 
hairs  of  my  head.  Yes — though  I  see  Him 
not,  I  have  a  God;  I  have  a  Comforter;  I  have 
a  Saviour.  Oh  why  does  One  so  near — 
who  is  about  my  path  and  about  my  bed — why 
does  He  never  show  His  face  and  give  me  an 
opportunity  of  pleading  with  Him,  as  a  man 
pleadeth  with  his  neighbour?  "Verily  thou 
art  a  God  that  hidest  thyself,  oh  God  of  Israel, 
my  Saviour!"  Yes — Christian,  because  "the 
life  you  now  live  in  the  flesh,"  you  must 
"  live  hy  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God."  God 
hideth  Himself;  and  hides  Himself,  often, 
behind  the  thick,  dark  cloud  of  His  chastise- 

20 


304  THE   GOD   OF   THE   FAITHFUL. 

ments  and  afflictions.  How  else  should  your 
faith  work  righteousness,  and  "overcome  the 
world  ?"  If  it  were  not  so,  where  would  be 
the  Christian  warfare  ?  Where  would  be  your 
soldiership  ?  Where  the  blessing  of  those,  who 
"  having  not  seen  have  believed  ?"  It  is  the 
purpose  of  God,  even  here,  to  reward  faith  by 
large  exhibitions  of  His  mercy  and  His  truth : 
but,  the  hour  is  coming  when  faith  shall  be 
changed  to  sight.  Then  shall  we  see  Him  as 
He  is,  and  know  even  as  we  are  known  ?  And 
among  the  joys  of  heaven  we  may  safely  reckon 
this  as  one  :  that  we  shall  then  look  back  on 
all  the  way,  by  which  the  good  shepherd  led 
us  to  Himself,  with  amazement  at  the  wisdom, 
and  the  tenderness,  of  His  care.  Oh,  how 
many  riddles  that  are  painful  now,  will  then 
unfold  themselves  as  instances  of  His  faithful- 
ness ^nd  love  !  How  rich  will  be  the  page  of 
our  spiritual  history;  and  how  fair  from  the 
heights  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  our  retrospect 
of  the  valley  through  which  we  found  our  way 
to  God  !  Blessed  Jesus,  give  us  grace,  mean- 
time, to  pray  and  not  to  faint,  and  to  run 
with  patience  the  race  that  is  set  before  us, 
looking  unto  Thee !  Verily  Thou  art  a  God 
tJuit  hidest  Thyself:  but  "draw  us,  we  will 
run    after   thee."      Like   the    Bride,    we    will 


THE   GOD   OF   THE   FAITHFUL.  305 

seek  thee,  saying — "I  will  get  me  to  the 
mountain  of  myrrh,  and  the  hill  of  frankin- 
cense, until  the  day  break  and  the  shadows 
flee  away." 


SERMON    XV. 


WAYS    IN    THE     WATERS. 


THIRD     SUNDAY    AFTER    EPIPHANY. 


LoED,  IF  IT   BE  Thou  bid  me  come  unto  Thee  on  the  wateb. 
St.  Matt.  xiv.  28. 

When  we  reflect  upon  the  immensity  of  that 
sacrifice,  by  which  God  has  opened  unto  us  the 
way  of  salvation,  it  seems  strange,  at  first,  that 
He  should  permit  any  soul  to  be  lost.  When 
we  look  at  the  cross,  and  behold  redeeming 
love,  in  its  amazing  conflict  with  the  enemy 
of  souls,  how  fearful  the  thought  that  all  that 
love,  and  all  that  suffering,  and  all  that  contest, 
and  all  that  victory,  should  only  increase  the 
guilt,  and  add  to  the  condemnation  of  some, 
whom  it  embraces,  nevertheless,  in  its  great 
design  of  mercy  !  We  may  be  sure  that  such 
loss  is  in  no  wise  attributable  to  the  Author  of 
our  salvation.  We  learn,  from  many  scriptures, 
that  the  souls  which  He  bought  with  His  blood, 
(306) 


WAYS   IN   THE   WATERS.  307 

were  a  reward  so  greatly  desired  by  Him,  that 
the  prospect  of  their  rescue  sweetened  the 
agonies  of  His  passion.  "  For  the  joy  that  was 
set  before  Him,  He  endured  the  cross,  despising 
the  shame."  And  what  was  that  joy  ?  No 
selfish  triumph;  no  joy  unshared  by  others; 
but  the  joy  of  admitting  millions,  to  the  joy  of 
their  Lord ;  the  bliss  of  sprinkling  many  na- 
tions; of  seeing  children  of  God  as  the  travail 
of  His  soul,  and  of  being  satisfied  in  their 
redemption,  and  adoption,  and  transformation. 
Hence  we  may  conclude,  that  every  soul 
that  is  not  saved,  is  so  much  taken  from  the 
Redeemer's  joy,  and  robbed  from  His  reward. 
For  it  He  died,  and  why  should  it  be  all  in 
vain  ?  We  must  beware  of  limiting  the  mercies 
of  our  Redeemer,  for  we  may  be  sure  of  this, 
that  instead  of  saving  as  few  as  possible.  He 
saves  as  many  as  possible;  that  instead  of  dis- 
pensing salvation  with  a  grudge.  He  grudges 
to  Satan  the  poorest,  and  the  most  guilty 
sinner,  that  is  lost;  and  that  so  far  is  He  from 
rejecting  any  suppliant,  because  of  His  great 
sinfulness,  that  the  worse  the  disease.  He  the 
more  delights  to  apply  His  balm  of  Gilead,  and 
to  prove  by  His  power  to  cure,  that  He  is  in- 
deed the  physician,  as  well  as  the  Redeemer 
of  souls. 

20* 


308  WAYS   IN   TH5   WATERS. 

Where  then  is  the  difficulty,  seeing  so  many 
are  lost,  in  spite  of  redemption,  and  in  spite  of 
the  means  of  grace,  and  the  strivings  of  the 
Spirit  ?  Reflect,  I  pray  you,  on  the  fact  that 
you  are  not  mere  creatures  of  flesh  and  blood ; 
neither  are  your  souls  mere  machines,  capable 
of  being  moved  mechanically,  and  saved  like 
sordid  matter.  You  are  spiritual  beings,  made 
in  the  image  of  God.  You  are,  in  a  great 
measure,  the  arbiters  of  your  own  destinies. 
You  must  be  moved  by  moral  means,  or  not 
at  all.  You  must,  of  your  own  free-will,  re- 
nounce the  devil,  for  Christ  Himself  cannot 
save  you  in  your  sins ;  sin  being  the  sting  of 
death  and  the  fuel  of  hell.  In  short,  there  is 
something  which  man  must  do  to  be  saved. 
Christ  has  done  His  part,  and  is  able  to  save, 
unto  the  uttermost,  all  that  come  unto  Him : 
but  then  they  must  come.  Here  is  the  secret 
of  the  soul's  loss !  "  Ye  will  not  come  to  me, 
that  ye  might  have  life." 

With  these  views,  let  us  examine  the  text. 
Our  Lord  revealed  Himself,  on  one  occasion, 
to  His  disciples,  as  the  God  who  commands  the 
winds  and  the  waves :  whose  way  is  in  the 
sea,  and  whose  paths  are  in  the  deep  waters. 
In  part  to  make  Himself  known  to  them  more 
fully,  in  His  divine  power  and  attributes ;  in 


WAYS   IN   THE   WATERS.  309 

part  to  convince  them  of  His  watchful  interest 
in  their  welfare ;  but  yet  more,  perhaps,  for 
our  sakes,  that  we  might  learn  practical  lessons, 
of  faith  and  confidence  in  Him,  it  pleased  Him, 
after  a  memorable  day,  to  let  them  embark 
alone,  in  a  little  vessel,  on  the  treacherous  sea 
of  Genesareth,  while  He  retired  to  pray,  on  a 
lonely  mountain,  and  left  them  to  encounter  a 
storm  upon  the  deep.  It  was  the  fourth  watch 
of  the  night,  or  near  morning,  when  they  were 
far  from  land,  and  weary  of  their  toil  in  rowing 
against  a  heavy  sea,  and  a  boisterous  wind, 
that  they  descried,  through  the  darkness,  the 
figure,  as  of  a  man,  moving  on  the  waters,  and 
seeming  at  first  to  draw  nigh  unto  them,  and 
then  to  pass  them  by.  They  were  no  Saddu- 
cees,  and  their  belief  in  angels,  and  spirits,  at 
once  suggested  to  them  that  it  was  some  dis- 
turbed ghost,  or  perchance  the  angel  of  death. 
They  all  saw  Him  and  were  troubled :  they 
cried  out  for  fear;  they  said,  it  is  a  spiritl 
Then  He,  to  whom  that  angry  water  was  as  a 
marble  floor,  and  who  pitied  them,  as  a  father 
pitieth  his  children,  spake  to  them  above  the 
storm — "be  of  good  cheer — it  is  I — be  not 
afraid."  Oh,  soul- assuring  voice  to  the  trem- 
bling disciples  !  with  what  joy  did  they  hear  the 
words  of  their  dear  Lord,  and  with  what  con- 


310  WAYS   IN   THE   WATERS. 

fidence  did  it  inspire  tliem,  that  now  the  worst 
was  over,  and  all  would  be  well !  So,  no 
doubt,  it  fares  with  the  dying  saint,  who  amid 
the  waters  of  death,  discerns  the  same  Jesus 
walking  upon  the  deep,  and  hears  the  assur- 
ance of  His  presence  and  support,  from  His 
own  blessed  voice.  "  Perfect  love,"  it  is  written, 
"casteth  out  fear."  The  disciples  were  no 
more  afraid,  and  they  longed  to  receive  Him 
into  the  ship.  But  here,  as  often  on  other 
occasions,  the  ardent  Peter  is  foremost  in  faith 
and  love,  and  inventive  in  his  zeal  for  his 
Master.  No  sluggish  afterthoughts  of  what 
should  be  done,  when  all  too  late  to  do  it, 
were  characteristic  of  St.  Peter  s  piety.  The 
prompt  suggestion  of  an  earnest,  single-hearted 
devotion  to  Christ,  opened  his  mouth  at  once, 
not  only  to  utter  a  prayer,  but  to  give  the 
most  practical  expression  of  faith.  If  it  be 
Christ,  he  concludes,  the  safest  place  is  nearest 
to  Him ;  and  be  it  on  the  sea  or  on  the  land, 
that  is  the  place  for  His  disciple.  Lord  if  it 
he  Thou  hid  me  come  unto  Thee,  Oh  how 
beautiful  this  instance  of  overcoming  faith  and 
love  I  Peter  has  not  a  moment's  doubt,  but 
that,  if  it  be  Christ  indeed,  he  can,  with  a 
word,  enable  him,  too,  to  walk  the  waters,  and 
to  reach  his  arms,  in  safety.    Bid  me  come  unto 


WAYS   IN   THE   WATERS.  311 

Tliee.  His  faith  is  rewarded,  and  he  hears  the 
word — the  simple  invitation — Come,  In  an 
instant  the  bold  Apostle  is  walking  on  the  sea ; 
and  the  sea  holds  him.  His  faith  has  removed 
mountains — the  mountains  of  the  deep.  It 
has  made  a  way  where  there  was  no  way.  He 
goes  to  Jesus,  he  knows  not  how!  Only, 
Jesus  has  commanded;  he  has  obeyed;  and 
lo !  all  things  are  possible  to  him  that  belie veth. 
There  is  a  will,  and  therefore  there  is  a  way. 
Yes,  oh  Peter,  even  so,  because  "the  eternal 
God  is  thy  refuge,  and  underneath  is  the  ever- 
lasting Arm." 

But  the  residue  of  the  story,  is  not  less  in- 
structive. So  long  as  Peter  persevered,  "  look- 
ing unto  Jesus,"  he  went  safely :  but,  for  a 
moment  he  suffered  himself  to  be  distracted. 
His  mind  wandered  from  his  Master ;  he  began 
to  think  how  very  bold  was  his  adventure; 
he  saw  that  the  wind  was  boisterous:  and 
confused  by  these  mixed  thoughts  of  himself, 
and  his  situation,  his  faith  began  to  waver, 
and  he  began  to  sink.  But  here  again  his 
great  necessity  reminded  him  of  the  great  re- 
source. "  Lord,  save  me  !"  Faith  regained 
the  mastery,  and  strong  prayer  went  forth,  in 
those  few  words,  to  the  hearer  of  prayer,  as 
able  and  ready  to  save.     In  a  moment,  the 


312  WAYS   m   THE   WATERS. 

Saviour  has  stretched  forth  His  hand,  and  up- 
held His  perishing  disciple.  His  mercy  is  im- 
mediate, and  even  His  reproof  is  gentle — "  Oh, 
thou  of  little  faith,  wherefore  didst  thou  doubt!" 

This  miraculous  history  scarcely  requires  an 
interpreter ;  for  who  can  fail  to  see  in  it,  with- 
out exposition,  a  striking  similitude  of  the 
ventures  of  a  young  disciple,  in  setting  out 
upon  the  Christian  course,  and  striving  to  go  to 
Jesus,  as  he  has  commanded  ?  Here  we  have, 
in  short,  the  undertakings  and  the  misgivings  j 
the  dangers  and  the  deliverances ;  the  assur- 
ances and  the  rebukes;  the  achievements  and 
the  failures;  the  struggles,  and  the  final  victory, 
of  the  Christian's  warfare.  Let  us  recur,  then, 
to  the  story,  considered  as  a  parable,  and  dwell 
for  a  time,  on  its  successive  lessons  of  warning 
and  consolation,  to  him  who  believes  and 
trembles;  who  would  fain  go  to  Jesus,  and 
yet  sees  not  the  way;  or  who  dreads  to  ven- 
ture upon  faith  that  is  feeble  at  the  best,  and 
may  not  be  faith  at  all. 

Let  us  observe  that  a  sincere  desire  to  go  to 
Jesus,  is  the  great  requisite.  Had  St.  Peter 
been  less  convinced  than  he  was,  of  Christ's 
divine  power  to  protect  and  save  him  ;  and  had 
his  confidence  been  less,  that  supreme  safety, 
happiness,  peace,  joy,  and  satisfaction  were  to 


WAYS  IN   THE   WATERS.  313 

be  found  in  the  arms  of  His  Saviour ;  he  would 
certainly  have  preferred  the  boat,  in  which  he 
was  apparently  well-off,  to  his  adventurous 
experiment.  Now,  let  me  remind  you,  that 
every  soul  that  is  out  of  Christ,  is  far  worse 
situated,  than  were  the  disciples  in  their  crazy 
vessel.  They  were,  at  least,  near  to  Christ, 
and  had  reason  to  confide  in  His  protection ; 
but  who,  that  is  tossed  on  the  billows  of  this 
life,  with  no  anchor  to  his  soul,  and  no  Saviour 
near  him,  can  fancy  himself  safe  from  peril  of 
shipwreck,  and  eternal  loss  ?  Christ,  then,  is 
the  only  resource  for  all  such,  and  what  they 
need  is,  first  of  all,  to  feel  their  great  necessity, 
and  the  infinite  desirableness  of  securing 
safety,  by  reaching  His  arms  betimes,  and 
finding  there,  assurance  and  repose. 

To  those  then  who  are  convinced  of  their 
desperate  condition ;  who  know  and  feel  that 
Christ  is  all  they  require,  and  who  sincerely 
long  to  find  Him,  and  then  to  lay  hold  of  the 
hope  set  before  them  in  the  Gospel,  the  text  is 
Buggestive  of  the  greatest  encouragement,  and 
the  strongest  consolation. 

For,  observe,  in  the  next   place,    that   all 

that  St.   Peter  waited  for,  was   a   command. 

**  Bid  me  come  unto  thee."   Christ  being  before 

him,  the  object  of  his  faith,  and  his  desire,  it 

27 


314  WATS   IN    THE   WATERS. 

was  not  necessary  to  see  the  waj,  but  only  to 
be  sure  of  an  invitation,  or  precept.  But, 
that  you  have  such  a  precept  and  invitation, 
you  cannot  for  a  moment  doubt.  "  Come  unto 
me  all  ye  that  labour,  and  are  heavy  laden, 
and  I  will  give  you  rest."  How  many  are  the 
forms  of  invitation ;  in  how  many  ways  does 
Christ  reveal  Himself  to  every  needy  sinner, 
as  his  loving  Saviour,  saying,  "whosoever 
Cometh  unto  me,  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out !" 

It  is  true  that  these  invitations  are  addressed 
to  faith,  but  then,  for  your  encouragement, 
remember  that  it  is  "faith,  as  a  grain  of 
mustard  seed,"  which  alone  He  requires  for  a 
beginning.  The  least  of  all  seeds ;  the  barest 
fibre  of  strength  in  the  broken  reed ;  the  merest 
spark,  smouldering  in  the  flax ;  these  are  His 
own  chosen  emblems,  of  the  feeble  elements  of 
faith,  and  penitence,  and  love,  which  He  wil- 
lingly accepts,  in  every  redeemed  soul,  that 
hears  His  gracious  message,  and  entertains  one 
moment's  thought  of  obedience.  Alas!  it  is 
the  delusion  of  Satan,  which  leads  an  awakened 
sinner  to  linger,  inspecting  the  quality  of  his 
faith,  instead  of  putting  what  little  he  has  to 
immediate  use.  Break,  I  pray  you,  this  de- 
lusive spell.  "  Lord  I  believe  ;  help  thou  mine 
unbelief:"   there  is  your  remedy.     Conscious 


WAYS  IN   THE   WATERS.  315 

of  j^cmr  lack  of  faith,  turn  it  at  once  into  such 
a  confession,  and  such  a  prayer?  Why  sit 
inactive,  wh^n  such  is  your  resource?  Use 
what  you  have,  and  it  will  increase.  Christ 
calls  :  say  only — "  I  will  arise  and  go." 

And  here,  we  may  allow,  that,  in  so  doing, 
one  taakes  a  venture,  a  bold  venture,  if  you 
will.  But,  consider,  it  is  ruin  to  stay  where 
you  are.  Let  us  remember  the  fact,  that  when 
Christ  said  to  His  disciple,  come,  there  was  no 
apparent  way.  Had  St.  Peter  paused  to  reason 
about  it — true,  there  was  nothing  to  encourage 
but  the  simplo  command.  The  yawning  deep 
was  between  the  servant  and  his  Master,  and 
there  was  nothing  but  that  word  come,  to 
justify  his  making  an  attempt  to  reaich  the 
Saviour.  True,  but  that  was  all  that  was 
necessary,  for  He  who  gives  the  commands  of 
the  Gosj^el,  is  able  to  sustain  every  soul,  that 
sets  itself,  in  earnest,  to  obey  them.  Christ 
would  i^ever  have  said  the  word  come,  if  He 
had  not  purposed  to  uphold,  to  deliver,  and  to 
save.  His  obedient  child.  These  remarks,  my 
brethren,  apply  as  well  to  the  sacramental 
institutions  of  the  Gospel,  as  to  its  moral  in- 
junctions. He  that  said  repent,  said  also  he 
baptized.  He  that  said  believe,  said  also,  thh 
do  in  remembrance  of  me.  He  that  said  thoii 
27 


316  WAYS   IN    THE    WATERS. 

shdlt  love  the  Lord  thy  God,  said  also  Confess  me 
tefore  men  :  and,  in  all  these  positive  institu- 
tions of  His  Gospel,  He  says  to  the  sinner — 
Come,  Now,  it  is  easy  to  invent  excuses ; — to 
profess  to  see  no  way ;  and  to  stand,  doubting 
and  despairing,  instead  of  looking  unto  Jesus, 
and  obeying.  But  we  learn  from  the  text, 
that  the  very  water  is  a  way,  to  him  who 
simply  takes  Christ  at  His  word.  Yea,  let  it 
be  all  storm  and  darkness  ;  let  the  billows  rave 
and  swell,  and  the  mountains  shake,  at  the 
tempest  of  the  same  !  The  simple  question  is 
— does  Christ  say  come.  If  so — it  is  safe  to 
obey.  The  only  answer  is — "  Even  so,  Lord 
Jesus  !" 

Alas !  this  simple  spirit  of  obedience  it  is, 
that  is  wanting  in  thousands  who  hear  the 
appeal.  And  then  how  many  feigned  excuses 
are  invented  to  disguise  the  disgraceful  fact. 
One  man's  business,  and  another  man's  idle- 
ness ;  this  one's  great  misfortune,  poverty,  and 
that  one's  great  prosperity — these  are  the  pre- 
tences. Yet,  one.  thing  only  is  wanting — the 
will.  When  man  has  that,  Christ  makes  the 
way.  In  short,  "God's  commandments  are 
not  grievous."  The  service  He  requires  is  a 
reasonable  service ;  and  what  He  requires  of 
His  creatures,  He  gives  them  power  to  perform. 


WAYS  IN   THE   WATERS.  317 

For  see  how  many  have  performed  them. 
How  many,  out  of  weakness,  have  been  made 
strong!  In  keeping  them,  how  many  have 
found  great  reward  !  How  many  prodigals 
have  been  welcomed  home ;  how  many  great 
transgressors  have  been  much  forgiven ;  how 
many,  like  Peter,  have  walked  upon,  the  water, 
and  through  great  water-floods  gone  safely  to 
Jesus,  when  only  once  the  heart  had  responded 
to  His  call,  *^  I  will  arise  and  go." 

Observe,  next,  the  great  secret  of  success  in 
walking  where  there  is  no  way :  or  in  other 
words,  the  secret  of  the  Christian  life,  amid 
perils,  temptations,  and  trials  without,  and  a 
weak  faith  within.  So  long  as  St.  Peter  kept 
his  eye  on  his  Master,  and  thought  only  of 
reaching  Him,  his  achievement  was  complete. 
''  He  walked  on  the  water  to  go  to  Jesus.'* 
Here  is  walking  by  faith,  and  not  by  sight : 
here  is  simple  trust  in  Christ  overcoming  all 
dangers,  and  all  difficulties.  "But,"  says  the 
Evangelist,  "  when  he  saw  the  wind  boisterous, 
he  was  afraid."  Alas !  he  was  looking  away  from 
his  Master,  or  he  would  never  have  been  trou- 
bled about  the  wind :  he  was  thinking  about 
his  own  poor  strength — his  venturous  feet,  and 
how  ill  the  water  was  fitted  to  hold  them — 
and  lo !  he  began  to  sink.     Now  so  it  is  with 


318  WAYS   IN    THE   WATERS. 

the  Christian,  the  moment  he  begins  to  turn 
his  thoughts  away  from  the  great  object  of 
faith,  and  to  set  them  vacantly  on  the  great 
tempest  which  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the 
devil,  are  stirring  up  round  about  him  ;  or  to 
fix  them  morbidly  on  his  own  internal  emotions, 
experiences,  and  joys  and  sorrows,  with  an 
effort  to  derive  satisfaction  from  them,  or  a 
willingness,  by  them,  to  be  driven  into  despair. 
How  many  wretched  failures,  in  the  mid-way 
career  of  discipleship,  are  attributable  to  just 
this  cause.  "Let  us  run  with  patience  the 
race  that  is  set  before  us^  looking  unto  Jesus.'' 
There  is  the  grand  rule  of  a  Christian's  course. 
But  let  a  Christian  cease  to  look  steadfastly  to 
his  Saviour,  he  will,  necessarily,  begin  to  sink. 
A  daily  renewal  of  access  to  Him ;  a  daily  re- 
newal of  faith  in  Him  :  a  constant  refreshment 
of  spiritual  life  by  communion  with  Him — 
this  is  the  only  dependence.  Alas  1  some  sink 
before  they  know  their  danger.  They  look 
inward,  and  outward,  and  are  too  blind  to  be 
afraid:  but  ceasing  to  look  steadfastly,  and 
constantly  to  Christ,  as  their  strength  and  their 
salvation,  they  sink,  and  are  lost  forever ;  lost 
because  they  trusted  in  themselves,  and  were 
too  thoughtless,  or  too  proud,  to  cry  unto  Him, 


WATS   IN    THE    WATERS.  319 

for  help,  while  yet  He  was  near,  and  ready  to 
be  entreated ;  to  hear  and  to  save. 

But  again,  the  narrative  affords  a  strong 
encouragement,  in  what  remains  to  be  noted. 
When  St.  Peter  began  to  sink,  his  case  was  a 
sad  one,  and  highly  illustrative  of  the  real 
difficulties  and  perils  of  the  Christian's  conflict 
with  the  world.  But  ot)serve,  he  had  a  re- 
source. It  is  a  great  thing  to  have  made  a 
beginning  in  the  Christian  life,  for  one  genuine 
and  honest  struggle  towards  the  Redeemer,  is 
wont  to  suggest  another  when  dangers  and 
difficulties  become  real  and  appalling.  No 
sooner  did  the  disciple  begin  to  sink,  than 
Jesus  again  rose  before  him,  as  the  only  refuge, 
and  the  sure  and  powerful  friend.  "Lord, 
save  me !"  Oh  !  the  faith,  the  eloquence,  the 
wisdom  of  that  prayer !  No  more  thought  of 
anything  but  Him,  and  His  mighty  power,  and 
great  morov.  One  look  to  the  Saviour,  one 
call  for  deliverance ;  and  the  child  of  God  is 
Bafe  again  in  the  arms  of  his  great  Deliverer. 
And  then  the  tenderness  of  the  rebuke !  "  Oh 
thou  of  little  faith,  wherefore,  didst  thou 
doubt."  I  allowed  thy  faith  to  be  tried,  but 
thou  hadst  only  to  look  to  me,  and  thy  way 
should  have  been  firm  :  and  lo !  even  when  thy 
faith  was  failing  T  drew  thee  to  myself:  for  so, 


320  WAYS   IN   THE   WATERS. 

even  unto  the  uttermost,  I  deliver  all  who 
come  to  me  by  faith ;  "  they  shall  not  perish, 
neither  shall  any  pluck  them  out  of  my  hand." 
What  the  sacred  narrative  represents  as  one 
transaction,  is,  in  fact,  the  sketch  of  many 
successive  attempts,  and  efforts,  and  partial 
failures,  and  great  deliverances,  in  an  ordinary 
Christian's  life.  Day  after  day,  the  believer 
may  seem  to  himself  to  pass  through  just  such 
a  series  of  spiritual  experiences.  A  little  faith 
overcoming  great  difficulties,  and  pressing 
on :  fresh  discouragements,  terrifying  and  dis- 
suading: prayer — -a  blessed  resource,  and 
mercy  its  sure  sequel.  Or,  the  conflict  of  life 
may  be  on  a  larger  scale.  The  Christian  may 
seem,  to  himself,  wonderfully  supported,  in  a 
long  adventure  of  faith,  looking  unto  Jesus, 
and  thus  gaining  ground  every  hour.  His 
dangers  and  his  fears  may  then  suddenly  arise 
before  him,  and  bear  a  proportionate  relation 
to  his  early  progress ;  and,  for  a  long  and  dreary 
time,  he  may  seem  to  himself  sinking  and 
lost.  Still,  if  he  never  gives  over  the  prayer — 
Lord,  save  me,  the  residue  of  the  story  will  cer- 
tainly be  made  good.  Jesus  will  again  reveal 
Himself;  His  mighty  hand,  and  His  out- 
stretched arm  will  be  sure  to  interpose  at  the 
last )  and  the  soul  that  has  struggled  towards 


WAYS  IN   THE   WATERS.  321 

Him,  and  cried  out  for  His  mercy,  through 
such  a  history  of  danger  and  trial,  shall  never 
perish,  neither  shall  he  lose  his  reward. 

Two  things  are  obvious,  however,  as  the 
great  lessons  of  the  text.  Firsts  the  vast  im- 
portance of  undertaking  the  work  of  salvation  ; 
and  Second,  the  necessity  of  perseverance.  He 
that  would  be  saved  must  make  a  beginning. 
He  must  not  pause  to  calculate  the  dangers  of 
the  way ;  nor  even  to  see  where  he  is  to  put  his 
first  step.  Does  Jesus  say  come  ?  he  is  to  go. 
Christ  will  take  care  that  such  a  soul  shall 
find  footing,  and  shall  be  able,  if  need  be,  to 
walk  upon  the  waters.  Again,  once  started 
there  must  be  no  giving  up.  K  dangers  press, 
and  terrify — nay,  if  one  is  conscious  of  begin- 
ning to  sink,  there  is  no  need  of  despair.  "  Lord 
Bave  me."  Renew  this  earnest  appeal :  look 
again  to  Jesus,  and  salvation  is  still  within 
your  grasp.  The  Christian  life  would  not  be  a 
warfare,  were  there  no  dangers  and  perils  to  be 
encountered;  and  our  Master,  who  calls  us  to 
be  soldiers,  fairly  forewarns  us  that  the  fight 
of  faith  will  be  a  real  contest,  and  one  that  will 
try  what  spirit  we  are  of  But  the  result  is  no 
less  certain,  if  only  we  continue  the  contest,  to 
the  end.  Whatever  we  may  encounter,  the 
Captain  of  our  salvation  will-  take  care  that  our 


322  WAYS  IN   THE  WATERS. 

strength  shall  equal  our  day,  and  we  are  sure 
of  coming  off  conquerors,  and  more  than  con- 
querors, through  Him  who  hath  loved  us,  and 
bought  us  with  His  blood. 

Finally,  let  us  observe,  in  the  narrative,  the 
beautiful  illustration  which  it  affords,  of  the 
concurrence  of  divine  power,  and  human  effort, 
in  the  working  out  of  salvation.  On  Peter's 
part,  it  is  an  undertaking  of  free-will,  and 
every  step  is  one  which  costs  him  fresh  strug- 
gles of  faith,  and  patience,  and  experience,  and 
hope.  He  works  out  his  own  salvation,  with 
fear  and  trembling.  And  yet,  not  a  step  does 
he  take,  in  which  Christ  does  not  make  the 
way,  and  supply  the  strength :  while  at  the 
last,  'tis  Jesus  that  rescues  the  disciple,  and 
His  is  all  the  glory,  both  as  the  Author  and 
the  Finisher  of  our  faith.  See  then,  how  idle 
it  is  to  stand  debating  as  to  our  ability  to  save 
ourselves ;  as  to  how  much  man  may  do,  and 
how  much  God  must  do  for  him.  Enough — 
that  Jesus  says  come ;  and  he  that  will  obey, 
will  find  that  he  has  something  to  do,  while 
yet  it  is  God  that  worketh  in  him,  both  to  will 
and  to  do. 

Oh  if  ever  we  find  ourselves  saved  indeed ; 
safe  in  the  arms  of  Jesus  ;  our  election  made 
sure,   and  our  victory  won,  to  Him.  to  Him 


WAYS  IN   THE   WArERS.  323 

alone,  will  our  delighted  soul  ascribe  all  the 
glory.  We  shall  look  back  on  perils  past,  and 
conflicts  encountered,  and  enemies  overcome, 
and  though  we  shall  remember  that  our  efforts 
were  real,  and  our  trials  severe,  the  one  ab- 
sorbing thought  will  be,  that  in  every  time  of 
need  there  was  with  us  One  mighty  to  save. 
Then,  while  the  song  of  redeeming  love  sounds 
sweet  on  our  immortal  tongue,  how  strange 
that  He  to  whom  alone  we  ascribe  the  glory 
and  the  strength  of  our  salvation,  shall  in  turn 
reward  us,  as  if  we  were  of  ourselves  the  con- 
querors. How  strange  that  He  shall  count  as 
service  done  to  Him,  all  our  feeble  efforts  to 
save  ourselves ;  and  shall  welcome  us  to  His 
free  gift,  as  it  were  to  a  reward  of  our  own 
merit,  saying,  "well  done  good  and  faithful 
servant;  enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord." 


SERMON  XVI. 


THE    GREAT    ENEMY. 


FOURTH    SUNDAY    AFTER    EPIPHANY. 


For  this  purpose  the  Son  op   God  was  manifested  that  Hb 

MIGHT  destroy  THE  WOilKS  OF  THE  DEVIL. — 1  John  ui.  8. 

The  existence,  and  the  power  of  Satan,  are 
great  realities,  on  which  Holy  Scripture  dwells 
with  emphasis,  but  which,  in  general,  we  prac- 
tically under-estimate.  While  the  Gospel  was 
yet  the  least  of  all  seeds,  and  w^hile  the  princes 
of  this  world  were  its  professed  enemies,  it  was 
easy  for  the  little  band  of  the  faithful  to  feel 
that  they  had  a  terrible  antagonist,  in  one 
whom  they  had  renounced  in  baptism,  and 
whom  Apostles  had  declared  to  be  the  ruler  of 
"  the  darkness  of  this  world,"  and  with  whom 
they  were  called  to  maintain  a  personal  war. 
They  saw,  everywhere,  before  their  eyes,  the 
most  glaring  proofs  of  his  craft,  and  his  mastery. 
(324) 


TUE   GREAT    ENEMY.  325 

Far  and  near,  as  they  travelled  on  their  er- 
rands of  mercy,  they  beheld  a  world,  not  only 
lying  in  wickedness,  but  making  a  religion  of 
their  devotion  to  lust  and  all  ungodliness. 
Everywhere  they  saw  the  works  of  the  devil, 
not  as  we  now  see  them,  in  transgressions  of 
law,  and  crimes  which  shun  the  light,  but  in 
organized,  and  legal,  and  religious  forms,  pene- 
trating all  classes  of  society,  and  courting  at- 
tention, and  even  demanding  applause.  When 
they  spake  of  God,  and  proclaimed  the  holiness 
of  His  character,  and  declared  their  belief  in  a 
coming  judgment,  and  asserted  that  not  only 
evil  works,  but  even  the  thoughts  and  intents 
of  the  corrupt  heart,  were  to  be  eternally 
punished  after  death,  and  especially  when  they 
went  on  to  define  evil,  and  to  designate  the 
works  of  darkness,  they  found  themselves  at 
issue  with  the  whole  structure  of  the  state,  and 
not  less  so  with  the  habits,  and  thoughts,  and 
determined  inclinations  of  the  masses  of  man- 
kind. And  then  they  felt  that  the  God  they  wor- 
shipped was  indeed  contending  with  a  strong 
antagonist,  in  the  old  serpent  whom  their 
Master  had  undertaken  to  destroy.  They  felt 
that  there  was  a  god  of  this  world,  a  prince  of  the 
power  of  the  air,  a  mighty  tempter  and  tyrant, 
who  was  in  possession  of  men  s  hearts,  and  who 


326  THE   GREAT  ENEJffY. 

was  able  to  show  fightj  and  to  make  a  gigantic 
resistance  to  the  advance  of  the  Christian  army. 
They  did  not  generalize  and  refine  away  the 
idea  of  evil,  as  something  accidentally  upper- 
most, among  mankind,  but  while  they  under- 
stood the  natural  corruption  of  the  human 
heart,  they  kept  before  their  eyes  their  great 
personal  foe.  They  saw  in  the  manifold  vari- 
eties of  human  wickedness,  a  marked  unity  of 
purpose,  and  a  deep  principle  of  enmity  to 
their  dear  Lord ;  and  while  they  burned  with 
loyalty  to  their  Master,  they  not  less  burned 
with  zeal,  to  wield  the  weapons  of  their  spirit- 
ual warfare,  with  effect,  against  His  adversary 
the  devil.  Day  by  day  in  secret,  and  in  the 
congregation,  they  prayed,  in  the  words  which 
Christ  Himself  had  taught  them,  "  deliver  us 
from  the  Evil  One ;"  and  then  taking  to  them- 
selves the  whole  armour  of  God,  they  went 
forth,  not  knowing  what  should  befall  them, 
but  feeling  that  they  were  bound  to  contend 
with  Satan,  in  his  fiery  assaults,  whether  from 
without,  or  from  within. 

I  say  we  poor  degenerate  Christians  of  the 
modern  age  have  too  much  lost  sight  of  this 
great  reality ;  of  the  fact,  that  is,  that  "  we 
wrestle  not  against  flesh  and  blood,  but  against 
principalities,  against  powers,  against  the  rulers 


THE  GREAT  ENEMY.  327 

c^the  darkness  of  this  world,  against  spiritual 
wickedness  in  the  regions  of  the  air."  The 
devil  and  his  angels  are  continually  spoken  of 
in  the  New  Testament  as  exercising  a  direct 
agency  in  the  affairs  of  men,  and  "  the  prince 
of  the  power  of  the  air"  is  represented  as  the 
spirit  which  now  "  worketh  in  the  children  of 
disobedience."  It  is  remarkable,  too,  that  the 
air  is  often  thus  referred  to  as  his  element; 
the  medium  of  his  universal  empire,  and  the 
region  in  which  he  "goeth  about  seeking  whom 
he  may  devour."  How  is  it,  that  in  spite  of 
all  that  we  are  told  upon  this  fearfully  impor- 
tant subject,  we  so  commonly  forget,  that  as 
we  were  bom  into  the  kingdom  of  Satan,  and 
have  been  ^Hranslated  into  the  kingdom  of 
God's  dear  Son,"  so  our  old  master  lies  in  wait 
for  us  continually,  and  "  desires  to  have  us," 
and,  unless  we  are  very  earnest  to  be  saved, 
will  bring  us  again  into  captivity  ?  Sin  is  a 
fearful  thing  indeed,  and  a  true  Christian 
dreads  it,  and  strives  against  it ;  but  I  believe 
there  is  nothing  more  necessary  to  a  steadfast 
Christian  life,  than  a  sober,  but  profound  con- 
sciousness of  having  to  stand  against  a  personal 
adversary,  only  less  powerful  than  God  Him- 
self, from  whose  malicious  wiles  no  human 
soul  in  tliis  mortal  state  is  too  high,  or  too  low, 


328  THE  GREAT  ENEMY. 

too  holy,  or  too  corrupt,  too  strong,  or  too 
weak,  to  be  entirely  safe.  Oh  the  thought  of 
the  old  serpent,  with  his  subtil  head,  and  his 
keen  eye,  his  poisonous  fangs,  and  his  tremen- 
dous coils,  lying  in  wait  for  my  poor  soul, 
night  and  day,  and  resolved,  if  possible,  that  I 
shall  not  escape :  lurking  for  me,  now  under 
covert  of  flowers  and  pleasant  retreats,  and 
now  even  in  holy  places,  where  I  would  fain 
draw  near  to  God  :  never  remitting  his  pursuit, 
whether  I  sleep  or  wake,  and  ready  to  take 
advantage  of  any  unguarded  moment,  to  fall 
upon  me,  and  bind  me  in  his  infernal  folds,  and 
drag  me  down  to  his  own  hell — this  is  the 
thought  to  make  me  feel  that  the  Christian 
life  is  warfare,  and  to  quicken  me  to  faith,  and 
prayer,  and  vigilance,  if  so  be  I  may  deliver 
my  soul  from  the  snare.  Yes,  this  is  the 
thought  that  makes  me  cling  to  Christ,  and 
cry  to  Him  for  His  pure  Spirit  to  strengthen 
me,  and  for  the  succour  of  His  holy  angels,  that 
they  may  be  about  my  path  and  about  my  bed, 
and  that  by  His  command  they  may  minister 
unto  me  as  an  heir  of  salvation,  and  may  never 
leave  me,  till  they  have  borne  me  in  their  loving 
arms  to  the  paradise,  where  at  last  I  shall  be 
at  rest.  Blessed  be  God,  though  our  enemies 
be  so  many  and  so  strong,  "they  that  be  with 


THE   GREAT   ENEMY.  329 

US*'  are  more  and  mightier :  and  while  we  trust  in 
Him,  the  great  Captain  of  our  Salvation  will 
never  leave  us  nor  forsake  us. 

I  have  dwelt  thus  particularly  on  the  per- 
sonality and  power  of  Satan,  because  the  text 
loses  all  its  meaning  unless  we  keep  these 
things  forcibly  in  view,  while  we  attempt  to 
make  it  profitable  to  our  souls.  The  works  of 
the  devil  are  the  works  we  do  by  nature,  and 
which  we  have  sworn  to  do  no  longer,  the 
Lord  being  our  helper.  But  we  must  bear  ia 
mind  the  fact  that  they  are  not  called  the 
works  of  the  devil,  figuratively,  or  without 
deep  meaning.  We  are  reminded,  by  the 
Apostle,  that  sin  is  as  really  the  devil's  law, 
as  righteousness  is  Christ's  law,  and  that  to 
commit  sin  is  to  serve  the  enemy  of  God  and 
to  become  his  captive  and  slave.  To  do  evil 
is  to  disobey  God.  This  we  know,  but  it  does 
not  much  affright  us,  because  we  feel  as  if  it 
did  no  great  harm  to  the  Most  High,  or  because 
we  say  in  our  hearts  "  Tush,  God  careth  not 
for  it."  But,  to  do  the  works  of  tlie  devil  is  a 
form  of  speech  exactly  equivalent,  which  yet 
suggests  to  us  a  far  more  serious  view  of  our 
guilt.  It  is  to  serve  Satan.  It  is  to  earn  his 
wages.  It  is  to  enlist  under  him  against 
Christ's  banner.     It  is  to  insult  and  defy  the 


330  THE  GREAT  ENEMY. 

Redeemer,  and  to  become  part  and  portion  of 
that  kingdom  which  He  was  manifested  to  de- 
stroy, and  which  He  will  assuredly  succeed  in 
destroying;  and  which  He  will  more  than  de- 
stroy in  its  head  and  its  members,  casting 
wicked  men  into  the  same  eternal  fire  which 
is  "  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels." 

The  text,  then,  refers  us  back  to  the  original 
Gospel  of  the  Son  of  God,  as  contained  in  the 
first  promise  of  this  Strong  Deliverer.  To 
whom  was  it  made  ?  Not  to  the  man  :  not  to 
the  woman,  but  to  the  serpent  himself,  amid 
the  ruins  of  Eden.  "  It  shall  bruise  thy  head." 
God  was  speaking  to  one  whose  history  is  not 
written;  whose  relations  to  the  Creator  are 
but  partially  revealed,  and  whose  existence,  as 
an  enemy  of  God,  is  the  most  appalling  enigma 
with  which  a  carnal  and  curious  mind  can  en- 
tangle and  involve  itself  We  only  know  that 
he  was  holy,  and  that  he  fell,  and  that  he  was 
"  not  spared,"  and  that  he  "  is  reserved,"  and 
that,  meanwhile,  he  has  immense  powers,  and 
mighty  armies,  and  is  at  war  with  God,  and 
has  cursed  our  world,  and  ruined  our  race,  and 
filled  us  with  corruption,  and  subjected  us  to 
pain  and  misery  as  well  as  to  all  iniquity,  and 
that  he  has  the  power  of  death  over  all  who 
serve  him,  and  that  death  eternal  is  the  wages 


THE   GREAT   ENEMY.  331 

he  pays  his  servants,  and  the  portion  he  longs 
to  award  to  all  mankind,  and  that  he  is  always 
active  in  ensnaring  souls,  and  that  wicked  men 
are  his  agents,  as  well  as  his  dupes,  and  that 
his  kingdom  is  still  strong  and  terrible  in  the 
earth.  All  this  we  know,  and  more  we  need 
not  enquire,  since  we  know  that  there  is  a 
stronger  than  he,  who  has  already  "  bruised  his 
head,"  and  will  certainly  destroy  both  him  and 
his  works,  and  will  save  from  his  malice  and 
his  power,  all  those  who  put  their  trust  in 
Him. 

The  purpose,  then,  for  which  the  Son  of  God 
was  manifested,  was  that  which  was  announced 
at  the  moment  of  the  first  transgression. 
Satan  had  destroyed  the  perfections  of  Creation, 
and  filled  the  earth  with  ruin  and  misery.  His 
works  were  all  foreseen  and  foreknown  of  God, 
such  as  the  mournful  history  of  mankind  now 
reveals  them  to  us.  Such  works !  Oh  !  this 
mysterious  being;  this  mortal  life,  with  all  the 
awful  issues  that  impend  in  the  case  of  every 
soul  that  shares  it ;  why  should  we  exist  at  all, 
since  from  the  moment  we  are  born,  the  devil 
is  upon  us,  and  works  within  us,  and  surrounds 
us  with  his  works,  in  every  form,  and  drags  us 
to  the  grave  ?  This  enquiry  is  natural,  but  it 
is  useless,  perhaps  presumptuous  and  profane. 
28* 


332  THE   GREAT   ENEMY. 

One  only  thing  is  of  moment  for  us  to  know, 
and  that,  God  has  fully  revealed.  The  spoiler 
is  spoiled,  and  the  desolater  is  desolate  :  "  the 
snare  is  broken,  and  we  are  delivered."  The 
purpose  for  which  the  Son  of  God  was  mani- 
fested, He  has  achieved,  in  dying  for  us. 
He  who  was  emphatically  the  "seed  of  the 
woman,"  having  no  human  father,  has  "  bruised 
the  head"  of  Satan,  as  Satan  has  "bruised  His 
heel,"  and  he  is  still  carrying  on  the  war,  which 
is  to  destroy  the  works  of  Satan,  and  which  is 
to  end  in  giving  victory  to  us  also,  provided 
we  also  fight  manfully  against  him.  Here 
comes  into  view  the  work  which  Christ  is  now 
carrying  on  in  the  world,  and  the  work  which 
we  must  permit  Him  to  carry  on,  in  us,  indi- 
vidually. 

Observe,  then,  that  Christ  has  undertaken, 
to  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil,  as  they  exist 
in  all  heathen  lands,  both  in  their  false  religions, 
and  in  the  universality  of  moral  corruption. 

The  condition  of  the  world,  as  the  Gospel 
found  it,  is  vividly  sketched  by  St.  Paul,  in  his 
first  chapter  to  the  Romans.  It  was  that  of  a 
revolted  universe,  in  its  height  of  rebellion 
against  its  Maker.  Nor  must  it  be  retorted 
that  their  ignorance  of  God  was  an  innocent 
one,  seeing   they  had   not   been   evangelized. 


THE  GREAT   ENEMY.  333 

The  Apostle  declares  that  they  sinned  against 
the  light  of  nature,  and  against  the  suggestions 
of  their  own  consciences.  Their  sin  was,  no 
doubt,  less  in  degree,  than  would  be  ours,  in 
like  transgression ;  yet  the  Apostle  says  ex- 
pressly, that  they  were  without  excuse.  The 
original  heathen  were  apostates  "  who  did  not 
like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge :"  their 
children  were  less  guilty,  and  yet  they  sinned 
against  what  little  light  they  had,  and  gave 
themselves  up  to  "  work  iniquity,  with  greedi- 
ness." In  this  condition  of  voluntary  alienation 
from  God,  He  Himself  sent  upon  them  the 
punishment  of  blindness,  allowing  them  to 
demonstrate,  by  their  acting  out  their  hearts, 
what  the  human  heart  is  made  of  They 
sinned  against  conscience ;  God  allowed  them  to 
stifle  conscience,  and  sin  on.  All  heathen 
history — all  heathen  literature — all  existing 
monuments  of  antiquity,  bear  witness  to  the 
horrible  results.  They  tell  us  that  the  human 
intellect  may  be  cultivated  to  any  extent,  and 
yet  know  nothing  of  virtue,  nothing  of  benevo- 
lence, nothing  of  purity.  Among  the  heathens 
of  Greece  and  Rome,  mind  achieved  such 
triumphs  as  even  yet  delight  and  instruct 
mankind;  but  what  did  they  for  the  heart? 
Give  a  iew  philosophers  their  due,  w^ho  drew 


834  THE   GREAT   ENEMY. 

upon  nature,  and  conscience,  and  reason,  and 
primitive  traditions,  for  certain  frigid  rules  of  a 
morality  which  they  did  not  practice  and 
which  they  commonly  based  upon  mere  ex- 
pediency, yet  what  did  their  schools  effect  to 
purify  the  heart  ?  In  theory,  the  philosophers 
and  their  disciples  extolled  virtue,  while  in 
fact  they  wallowed  in  brutal  vice,  showing  at 
once  the  remonstrances  of  conscience,  under 
the  light  of  nature,  and  their  sin  against  both. 
And  meantime  they  spurned,  instead  of  pitying 
the  masses,  and  their  world  went  on  in  iniquity, 
unchecked  and  unreproved.  "  Professing  them- 
selves to  be  wise,  they  became  fools."  Their 
altars  smoked  with  incense  and  with  holocausts 
which  the  Apostle  affirms  "  they  sacrificed  to 
devils."  Blind  Fortune,  brute  Force,  and  more 
brutal  Lust — these  were  their  gods;  and  to 
these  they  gave  not  only  offerings,  but  "  their 
own  selves,  also."  The  blessed  Paul  had  seen 
their  devotions  in  a  thousand  places,  and  in 
every  form,  and  his  whole  soul  seems  to  have 
been  full  of  the  conviction  that  his  warfare  was 
with  Satan  in  his  strongholds.  In  what  awful 
language  does  he  portray  the  works  of  the 
devil,  as  he  found  them,  everywhere  the  same, 
throughout  the  heathen  world  !  He  describes 
them  as  "  being  filled  with  all  unrighteousness, 


THE  GREAT   ENEMY.  335 

fornication,  wickedness,  covetousness,  mali- 
ciousness ;  full  of  envy,  murder,  debate,  deceit, 
malignity;  whisperers,  backbiters,  haters  of  God, 
despiteful,  proud,  boasters,  inventors  of  evil 
things,  disobedient  to  parents,  without  under- 
standing, covenant-breakers,  without  natural 
affection,  implacable,  unmerciful."  And  the 
words  with  which  he  seals  up  this  terrible 
catalogue  of  crimes,  are  even  more  fearful  to 
think  upon,  because  they  show  us  that  the 
heathen  were  conscious  sinners,  in  all  this  in- 
iquity, and  hence  subject  to  the  wrath  of  God  : 
"Who,  knowing  the  judgment  of  God  that 
they  which  commit  such  things  are  worthy  of 
death,  not  only  do  the  same,  but  have  pleasure 
in  them  that  do  them." 

Such  was  the  kingdom  of  Satan,  as  it  existed 
among  the  most  polished  nations  of  antiquity. 
Every  scholar  will  bear  witness  that  the  testi- 
mony is  true.  Alas!  how  many  heathen 
authors,  whose  unrivalled  genius  delights  the 
Christian  student  even  to  this  day,  afford  him 
nevertheless  a  melancholy  corroboration  of  the 
record  of  St.  Paul.  Their  poetry  and  their 
prose  alike  celebrate  and  commend  unmention- 
able forms  of  vice.  And  sadly  imperfect  as 
the  work  of  the  Gospel  still  is,  in  all  the  world, 
it  is  refreshing  to  reflect  what  millions  of  souls 


336  THE   GREAT   ENEMY. 

it  has  rescued  from  such  degradation,  and 
sanctified  as  vessels  of  mercy  to  their  fellow- 
men.  Yes,  verily,  when  we  think  of  the 
millions  of  truly  Christian  homes,  in  which, 
throughout  all  the  world,  the  true  God  is  wor- 
shipped; and  when  we  compare  their  blessed 
purity  and  happiness,  their  love,  joy,  peace, 
benevolence,  and  piety  towards  God  and  man, 
with  the  very  best  estate  of  the  families  of 
ancient  Greece  and  Kome,  we  cannot  but  feel 
that  Christ  has  already  "  destroyed  the  works 
of  the  devil,"  in  a  glorious  degree,  and  so  as  to 
encourage  our  hearts  that  a  more  perfect 
triumph  of  the  Gospel  is  at  hand.  Reflect  that 
on  the  day  that  Christ  rose  from  the  dead,  his 
followers  in  Jerusalem  were  only  a  hundred 
and  twenty,  while,  with  the  rare  exception  of 
a  few  Jews  and  proselytes,  the  whole  world 
knew  not  God,  and  was  full  of  darkness. 
Among  the  most  civilized  nations,  there  was 
not  one  matron,  not  one  maid,  scarce  one  in- 
telligent child,  who  was  not  familiar  with  vices, 
which  have  no  name  among  Christians,  and 
who  did  not  in  person  commit  iniquities,  un- 
blushingly,  which  we  can  scarcely  credit,  till 
in  such  providential  store-houses  of  evidence, 
as  the  buried  cities  of  Campania,  we  have  seen 
with  our  own  eyes,  the  proofs  of  their  unutter- 


THE  GREAT   ENEMY.  337 

able  depravity.  "  A  world  lying  in  wickedness," 
and  whose  "  light  was  darkness/'  such  a  world 
our  blessed  Redeemer  undertook  to  illuminate 
when  he  "  was  manifested  that  He  might 
destroy  the  works  of  the  devil." 

Now  what  these  heathen  were,  all  heathen 
are,  to  this  day,  and  by  nature,  we  are  all 
heathen.  Behold,  then,  what  a  work  Christ 
is  now  carrying  on,  in  the  world,  wherever 
His  Gospel  is  preached,  and  where  it  prevails 
to  the  regeneration  and  sanctification  of  men's 
souls.  When  I  reflect  on  the  desperate  wicked- 
ness of  the  human  heart,  even  a  little  good 
surprises  and  delights  me,  and  I  rather  wonder 
that  the  gates  of  hell  have  not  prevailed  against 
the  Church,  than  that  the  progress  of  the 
Gospel  is  so  slow.  But  when  again  I  think 
upon  what  remains  to  be  done,  and  that  we 
Christians  are  the  instruments  by  whom  Christ 
is  yet  to  be  manifested  to  millions,  before  the 
works  of  the  devil  shall  be  entirely  destroyed, 
then  I  should  despair,  were  it  not  that  the 
promise  is  sure,  and  that  Christ  will  accomplish 
the  purpose  of  His  manifestation,  however 
unworthy  we  may  prove  ourselves  of  a  share 
in  His  great  war  with  Satan,  and  of  the  rewards 
which  such  soldiership  alone  can  ensure ! 

And  this  brings  me  to  the  work  of  Christ  in 


S38  THE  GREAT   ENEMY, 

the  individual  heart,  in  cleansing  it  of  tlie 
works  of  the  devil,  and  reducing  it  to  His  own 
service,  in  His  contest  with  Satan.  To  what 
purpose  do  I  pretend  to  sympathize  with  the 
mind  of  Christ,  as  the  Redeemer  of  mankind, 
if  I  myself,  refuse  Him  a  place  in  my  heart, 
and  will  not  let  Him  set  up  His  kingdom  there  ? 
Reflect,  I  pray  you^  that  your  heart  is,  by 
nature,  all  that  you  see  developed  and  full- 
blown, in  the  character  of  heathen  nations : 
and  that,  having  undertaken  to  destroy  the 
works  of  the  devil,  your  Saviour  must  work  a 
work  in  you,  or  destroy  you  at  kst,  with  him, 
as  his  willing  captive,  and  part  of  his  kingdom 
of  darkness.  He  has  already  done  a  great 
work  for  you ;  a  work  which  none  other  could 
have  done ;  He  has  already  "  bruised  the  ser- 
pent's head,"  so  that  if  you  will,  you  may  easily 
secure  the  benefits  of  His  victory  for  yourself 
But  you  must  not  imagine  that  these  benefits 
consist  merely  in  salvation  from  eternal  death, 
for  even  Christ  cannot  save  a  sinner  in  his 
sins,  and  until  you  liave  allowed  Him  to  de- 
stroy the  works  of  the  devil  in  your  heart  and 
life,  you  are  none  of  His.  So  long  as  you  live 
in  sin,  you  defeat  the  whole  object  and  pur- 
pose of  God  in  becoming  "manifest  in  the 
flesh,"  at  least  so  far  as  you  can  do  it,  or  as  re- 


THE  GREAT   ENEMY.  339 

gards  its  results  to  yourself  alone.  Oh !  how 
utterly  hollow  is  faith,  how  vain  is  zeal,  how 
false  is  profession,  on  the  part  of  him,  who 
fails  to  let  grace  transform  him  from  the  power 
of  Satan,  to  a  lively  and  practical  godliness, 
"  full  of  mercy  and  good  fruits !"  The  devil 
and  not  Christ  triumphs  in  such  a  heart. 
Satan  cares  very  little  for  nominal  enemies, 
provided  they  do  his  works :  and  what  does 
Christ  want  of  a  follower,  whose  heart  is 
Satan's  own  fortress,  and  who  never  surrenders 
it  to  the  Master,  under  whose  banner  he  pre- 
tends to  serve  ? 

Alas !  my  brethren,  the  world  is  full  of  specu- 
lative Christians  who  are  too  plainly  soldiers 
and  followers  of  this  sort.  And  of  these  some 
are  doubtless  self-deceivers,  for  they  have  a 
zeal  for  God,  and  even  a  form  of  godliness, 
though  they  deny  its  power.  Such  men  see, 
very  clearly,  the  beauty  and  perfection  of  the 
Christian  religion.  They  often  walk  about 
Zion,  and  tell  all  her  towers  and  bulwarks, 
with  a  sort  of  pride.  Nay,  they  take  a  strange 
satisfaction  in  the  triumphs  of  the  cross,  and 
seem,  often,  very  busy  in  trying  to  forward  its 
progress  in  the  world.  So  Jehu,  in  the  elder 
church,  displayed  his  zeal  for  the  Lord;  and, 
indeed,  "  he  drave  furiously,"  and  if  that  were 
29 


340  THE   GREAT    ENEMY. 

true  piety,  he  would  have  been  saved.  But, 
it  is  one  thing,  in  a  moment  of  feeling,  to  re- 
buke iniquity  in  others,  and  another  to  sit 
down,  patiently,  to  the  life-long  task  of  cleans- 
ing one's  own  heart,  and  warring  with  Satan 
there.  Yet,  this  only  is  what  Christ  accepts 
and  acknowledges  as  His  work.  Jesus  tri- 
umphs only  when  a  heart  is  turned  from  siu 
to  holiness.  There  He  displays  His  power, 
where  He  can  show  a  soul  purged  from  the 
works  of  the  devil ;  and  where  the  man  who, 
by  nature,  served  Satan,  in  all  uncleanness 
and  wickedness,  now  brings  forth  the  fruits 
of  the  Spirit,  "  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering, 
gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness,  self-con- 
straint;" for  "they  that  are  Christ's,"  continues 
the  Apostle,  "  have  crucified  the  liesh  with  the 
affections  and  lusts." 

Let  no  man  understand  me  as  undervalu- 
ing doctrine,  or  setting  lightly  by  the  sacra- 
ments, or  sinking' the  value  of  faith,  or  pro- 
posing any  work  as  meritorious,  save  only  as 
it  is  sprinkled,  and  baptized,  and  perfumed 
with  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ.  With  all 
my  soul  I  love  and  cherish  the  Apostolic  and 
Catholic  Creeds,  and  I  live  by  the  faith  which 
they  teach. me  to  profess,  in  Christ,  and  in 
the  holy  communion  of  his  mystical  body,  the 


THE   GREAT   ENEMY.  341 

Church.  Nor  do  I  under-estimate  an  intelli- 
gent, and  even  an  intellectual  piety;  nay,  I 
highly  prize  even  the  flowers  that  grow  on 
Zion's  walls,  and  admire  the  religious  character 
which  is  adorned  by  a  refined  and  cultivated 
taste.  But,  oh  !  with  all  this,  it  seems  to  me, 
that  it  is  the  ethical  part  of  our  holy  religion 
which  alone  deserves  to  be  admired  for  its  own 
self;  because  this  is  its  end  and  object,  the  pur- 
pose for  which  the  Son  of  God  was  manifested, 
and  that  which  His  atonement  magnified  in 
the  law,  while  in  His  blessed  life,  and  in  all 
His  leaching,  it  is  the  crowning  glory.  In 
short,  unless  we  copy  Christ,  to  what  purpose 
is  He  set  before  us  as  an  example ;  if  we  do 
the  works  of  the  devil,  to  what  purpose  did  He 
die  for  our  sins?  And  what  does  doctrine 
avail ;  or  where's  the  w^orth  of  creeds ,  or  for 
what  does  the  Church  herself  exist,  if  it  be  not 
to  make  those  holy  who  are  naturally  wicked? 
Where  is  the  triumph  of  the  Gospel,  if  the 
lives  of  the  baptized  are  the  lives,  at  best,  of 
philosophers?  or  if  the  vices  of  the  heathen 
still  grow  rank  under  the  washing  of  regenera- 
tion, and  the  clear  sliining  of  the  truth  ?  Was 
Christ  incarnate,  did  He  bleed  and  die,  that 
the  world's  old  sins  might  flourish  under  new 
names  ?     Have  evil  passions,  and  even  devil- 


342  THE   GREAT   ENEMY. 

ish  ones,  such  as  envy,  hatred,  and  malice,  a 
right  to  exist  among  Christians,  so  long  as 
holy  things,  and  not  worldly  things,  are  sup- 
posed to  be  their  exciting  cause  ?  Or  is  it  so 
that  Christ  is  only  glorified,  where  all  these 
are  put  away,  according  to  His  commandment, 
and  where  charity,  while  she  "rejoiceth  in  the 
truth,"  still  "seeketh  not  her  own,  is  not 
easily  provoked,  and  thinketh  no  evil  ?" 

It  is  a  recognized  truth  that  example 
preaches  more  forcibly  than  precept.  It  was 
the  holy  lives  and  deaths  of  primitive  Chris- 
tians, that  appealed  so  mightily  to  the  Gentiles 
who  persecuted  and  slew  them.  Now  as 
Christ  was  manifested  to  destroy  the  works 
of  the  devil,  so  he  is  manifested  still  by  every 
pardoned  sinner,  who  works  the  work  of  God, 
and  thus  attests  His  power  to  change  the 
heart.  To  such  a  manifestation  of  Christ,  we 
are  all  called  in  our  several  stations,  and  in 
this  way  every  one  of  us  can  glorify  Gorv,  and 
declare  His  truth.  To  the  heathen,  we  are  the 
appointed  vessels  of  this  manifestation.  Like 
St.  Paul  we  are  debtors  to  the  barbarian.  We 
have  no  right  to  withhold  knowledge  from  them, 
or  with  idle  speculations  as  to  their  present 
and  future  condition,  to  excuse  ourselves  from 
giving  them  God's  message  of  mercy.    Enough 


THE  GREAT   ENEMY.  343 

that  it  is  Christ's  command  that  His  Gospel 
should  be  published  to  every  nation  under 
heaven,  and  that  His  church  should  announce 
to  every  creature,  the  fact  of  his  redemption, 
the  worth  of  his  soul,  and  the  glory  of  that 
immortality  to  which  he  is  called  by  the  Gospel. 
To  this  broad  coinmand,  and  to  its  liberal 
performance,  by  Apostles  and  martyrs,  we  owe 
it  that  we  ourselves  are  not,  at  this  moment, 
heathens  and  barbarians.  We  have  received 
it  by  the  sacrifices  of  others :  now,  then,  shall 
it  stop  with  us  ?  If  so  we  have  received  it  in 
vain.  We  are  devoid  of  the  spirit  of  Him  who 
came  "  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was 
lost ;"  we  are  none  of  His,  and  that  language 
applies  to  us  by  which  He  characterized  the 
Jews — "  ye  are  of  your  father  the  devil,  and 
the  lusts  of  your  father  ye  will  do."  Oh,  hor- 
rible paternity  !  Can  any  one,  by  living  on, 
in  sloth  and  indifference,  deepen,  in  his  soul, 
the  lineaments  of  such  a  sire,  and  pamper  the 
leprosy  which  he  has  transmitted  to  a  loath- 
some family?  But  perhaps  I  speak  to  some 
one  whose  maxim  is  that  "Charity  begins  at 
home."  Be  it  so !  Begin  with  your  own 
heart,  and  cleanse  it,  by  divine  grace,  and  be 
transformed  into  the  image  of  Christ.  And 
then  if  you  be  a  parent,  go  on  with  your  home 
29* 


344  THE   GREAT   ENEMY. 

charity,  and  you  will  contribute  something  to 
the  help  of  the  Lord  against  the  mighty. 
Alas !  does  not  Satan  sometimes  shelter  himself 
beneath  a  Christian's  roof,  and  lie  in  wait  for 
innocent  childhood,  in  many  a  domestic  para- 
dise? Are  your  children  guarded,  watched, 
strengthened  and  defended  as  they  should  be  ? 
Is  there  no  Esau  among  your  sons  who,  because 
of  your  neglect,  is  growing  up  a  profane  person, 
and  who  for  one  morsel  of  meat  will  sell  his 
spiritual  birthright?  Look  at  the  beloved 
ones  around  your  table,  and  say  whether  you 
are  doing  your  duty  to  them.  They  are 
Christ's  children  more  than  yours.  Are  you 
rearing  them  for  Him  ?  If  not,  in  all  proba- 
bility, they  had  better  never  have  been  born. 
Look  too,  at  your  opportunities  with  friends, 
dependants,  servants!  Charity  has,  indeed,  a 
large  field  at  home:  for  who  is  charitable  that 
can  see  any  soul,  which  he  can  enlighten  with 
the  Gospel,  living  and  dying  in  ignorance  and 
sin  ?  Oh  for  grace  to  hate  sin  as  Christ  hates 
it,  to  fight  Satan  as  He  has  given  us  an  ex- 
ample, and  to  purify  ourselves  even  as  He  is 
pure ! 


SERMON    XVII. 


THE    PRAYER    OF    THE    GADARENES 


FIFTH     SUNDAY    AFTER    EPIPHANY. 


And  when  they  saw  Him  they  besought  Him  that  He  would 
DEPART  OUT  OF  THEIR  COASTS. — St.  Matt.  viii.  84. 

Our  Lord  Himself  assures  us  that  in  sending 
His  Only-begotten  into  the  world,  the  eternal 
Father  was  not  without  those  paternal  af- 
fections, which  would  have  led  a  human  parent 
to  say,  with  confidence,  "  they  will  reverence 
my  son."  The  Omniscient  God,  indeed,  could 
not  but  foresee  the  end,  from  the  beginning : 
and  in  a  sense,  He  sent  His  Son  to  be  crucified : 
but  yet  in  another  point  of  view,  the  coming 
of  Christ  was  an  event,  in  which  God  chal- 
lenged the  allegiance  of  mankind,  arid  dealt 
with  the  world,  as  a  long-suffering  Sovereign, 
with  a  rebelHous  people,  upon  whom  every 
effort  to  win  them  to  submission,  was  to  be 
tried,  hopefully,  and  with  a  prospect  of  success. 

(345) 


346    THE  PRAYER  OF  THE  GADARENES. 

He  had  sent  prophets  and  patriarchs  in  vain ; 
last  of  all,  he  sends  His  well-beloved,  saying, 
"  they  will  reverence  my  Son."  I  will  make  an 
appeal  to  their  hearts.  Four  thousand  years 
have  passed  since  perfect  holiness  has  touched 
the  earth,  in  human  nature.  Now  I  will  send 
my  Son,  who,  as  the  second  Adam,  shall  renew 
all  things  in  His  sinless  person,  while  yet,  over 
and  above  His  manhood.  His  divinity  shall 
sanctify  the  soil  on  which  He  treads,  and  shine 
out,  in  every  act,  winning  and  attracting  all 
hearts  to  imitate  His  perfections,  and  to  adore 
His  goodness  and  majesty. 

Such,  humanly  speaking,  was  the  natural 
prospect  of  Christ's  mission  to  mankind.  The 
philosopher,  who  makes  no  allowance  for  the 
infatuation  with  which  man's  corrupt  heart 
clings  to  sin,  and  hates  an  example  that  re- 
bukes its  lusts,  would  say  that  the  career  of 
radiant  virtue  through  a  miserable  world  could 
not  be  less  than  triumphant.  But  the  text 
refutes  the  theory,  and  demonstrates  the  cor- 
ruption of  men  to  be  such  as  the  Gospel  asserts 
it  to  be.*  The  Son  of  God  Himself  descends  to 
the  earth,  and  condescends  to  seek  out  an 
obscure  and  miserable  village,  as  the  scene  of 
His  wonderful  and  benevolent  works ;  and  lo ! 
the  people  beseech  Him,  "  that  He  would  de- 


THE  PRAYER  OF  THE  GADARENES.    347 

part  out  of  their  coasts."  Such  is  the  unenvi- 
able distinction  of  the  Gergesenes  of  Gadara. 
But  alas!  we  shall  soon  find  that  they  were  not 
alone  in  their  prayer.  They  were  more  than 
rivalled  by  the  Jews  themselves ;  and  heathens 
as  they  were,  it  may  be  that  in  the  last  day, 
those  men  of  Gadara  shall  find  it  more  tolerable 
for  them,  than  it  will  be  for  us. 

Jesus  came  into  the  country  of  the  Gerge- 
senes :  and  no  sooner  had  those  blessed  feet 
been  set  on  its  unworthy  soil  than  man  in  his 
misery,  presented  Him  with  griefs  to  be  borne 
and  infirmities  to  be  healed.  Two  frantic 
demoniacs,  whose  kinsfolk  had  driven  them 
forth  to  dwell  amid  the  tombs,  and  whose 
violence  was  a  terror  to  the  passing  tra- 
veller, rush  forth  to  assault  him,  in  the  way. 
But  the  demons  discover  the  holy  atmos- 
phere into  which  they  have  hurried  their 
miserable  victims,  and  shriek  out  their  testi- 
mony to  the  presence  of  their  righteous  Judge. 
Reserving  them  till  the  day  of  wrath,  he 
simply  bids  them  depart  from  their  abode  in 
human  breasts ;  and  suffering  them  to  enter 
into  a  herd  of  swine,  and  drive  them  to  de- 
struction, shows  at  once  the  frightful  power  of 
fallen  spirits,  when  they  have  their  way — and 
their  powerlessness,  when  the  God  that  heareth 


348    THE  PRAYER  OF  THE  GADARENES. 

prayer,  avenges  and  rebukes.  The  swineherds, 
flying  at  the  sight,  spread  among  the  people 
the  wonderful  story  of  the  demoniacs'  restora- 
tion, and  of  the  destruction  of  their  property, 
which  they  had  kept,  no  doubt  in  special  con- 
tempt of  their  Jewish  neighbours,  and  the  law 
of  their  God  concerning  swine.  By  this,  the 
people  of  Gadara  knew — they  might  have 
known — that  they  were  themselves  exposed 
to  the  visitation  of  evil-spirits,  of  terrible 
power  and  malignity ;  and  they  were  also  as- 
sured of  the  approach  of  One,  who  could  destroy 
that  power,  and  who  had  actually  restored  to 
comfort,  and  to  their  friends,  two  of  their 
afflicted  countrymen,  who  had  been  the  curse 
of  the  regions  in  which  they  dwelt,  and  de- 
plorable objects,  at  once,  of  terror  and  com- 
passion. How  was  such  a  deliverer  w^elcomed? 
Who  came  out  to  bless  Him  for  His  mercy  to 
those  poor  men,  and  the  people  to  whom  they 
belonged  ?  Who  claimed  more  of  His  benevo- 
lence, and  brought  Him  the  sick  and  palsied 
to  be  healed  ?  Who,  like  the  Centurion — ex- 
claimed, "  I  am  not  worthy  thou  shouldst  come 
under  my  roof,"  and  "worshipped  the  conde- 
scending love  that  had  brought  the  Lord  of 
glory  to  so  mean  a  place  as  that?  Oh,  the 
people  came  out  to  meet  Him,  but  alas,  it  was 


THE  PRATER  OF  THE  GADARENES.    349 

not  to  hail  the  Son  of  David :  with  one  accord 
"they  besought  Him  to  depart  out  of  their 
coasts." 

And  had  these  Gadarenes  no  lepers  to  be 
cleansed ;  no  lame  or  palsied  to  be  healed ;  no 
broken  hearts  to  be  bound  up;  no  groaning 
sinners  to  be  pardoned ;  no  tears  to  be  wiped 
away?  See — God  was  among  them,  offering 
them  their  heart's  desire ;  ready  to  hear  their 
requests,  and  to  answer  them ;  and  they  had 
but  one  to  offer — that  He  should  go  away,  and 
give  His  mercies  to  some  other  people.  Their 
only  want  and  wish  was  that  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  should  leave  the  Gergesenes  to  keep 
6 wine,  and  to  be  tormented  of  devils,  or  in  other 
words,  to  pursue  their  disgusting  trade,  at  the 
hazard  of  their  souls  and  bodies,  unmolested 
by  the  divine  benevolence  that  would  call 
them  to  pursuits  more  worthy,  and  rescue 
them  from  the  bondage  of  Satan,  and  of 
death ! 

Well  may  we  be  amazed  at  such  a  story ; 
for  it  simply  proves  that  men  whose  god  is 
mammon,  can  prefer  'the  company  of  devils 
and  of  swine,  to  that  of  the  Lord  of  glory! 
It  shows  us  the  sordid  character  of  thoroughly 
carnal  hearts ;  and  teaches  us  why,  to  many, 
Christ  has  no  form  nor  comeliness,  no  beauty 


350    THE  PRAYER  OF  THE  GADARENES. 

that  tliey  should  desire  him.  We  learn  from 
the  context  that  Jesus  took  them  at  their 
word.  He  entered  the  ship,  and  returned  to 
His  own  land,  to  exalt  his  own  city,  Caper- 
naum, unto  Heaven,  by  the  mighty  works 
which  He  did  therein.  He  whom  the  Gada- 
renes  would  not  receive,  went  about  other 
parts  of  Galilee  doing  good.  None  came  to 
Him  with  prayer  that  went  not  back  enriched 
with  mercy.  The  lepers.  He  cleansed  ;  to  the 
blind,  He  gave  sight ;  the  penitent.  He  par- 
doned; the  dead,  He  raised.  These  things 
were  done  for  other  people  :  they  might  have 
been  done  for  the  Gadarenes,  had  they  not 
feared  for  their  swine,  and  ^'hesought  Him  to 
depart  out  of  their  coasts." 

To  say  nothing  of  another  world — what 
losers  were  these  people,  by  their  infatuation  ! 
The  world  itself  has  at  last  found  out  the  love- 
liness of  Jesus'  character,  and  will  acknow- 
ledge that  the  ground  on  which  He  trod  was 
holy,  and  that  His  presence  anywhere  was  life 
and  peace.  Yet  so  blind  were  these  people, 
that  they  thought  themselves  wise,  in  bidding 
Him  depart,  as  soon  as  he  came  among  them : 
and  when  He  retired  at  the  word,  they  felt 
themselves  happy  in  their  riddance,  and  con- 
tentedly set  themselves  to   their   sordid    pur- 


THE  PRAYER  OF  TUE  GADARENES.    351 

suits.  And  so — there  was  no  Jesus  to  pass 
through  their  villages,  and  stand  at  their  doors 
and  knock.  Among  the  Gergesenes,  there  was 
no  dwelling  honoured  by  His  tarrying,  like  that 
of  Mary  and  Martha ;  no  table  there  had 
Jesus  for  a  guest ;  no  house  of  mourning  heard 
His  consoling  voice ;  no  marriage  feast  was 
brightened  by  His  presence,  and  made  illus- 
trious by  His  miracles;  no  children,  amid  the 
Gergesenes,  were  folded  to  His  bosom;  no 
mothers  there  heard  His  blessing  pronounced 
upon  their  babes.  Cold,  cheerless,  godless, 
Gadara!  how  dark  and  gloomy  was  the  region, 
in  which  they  loved  swine  better  than  such 
things  as  these,  and  besought  Jesus  that  he 
would  depart  out  of  their  coasts. 

And  yet,  my  brethren,  there  are  such 
regions  nearer  home.  Have  you  seen  the  house- 
hold where  the  name  of  Jesus  is  a  strange 
name,  or  only  used  in  profane  contempt !  It 
matters  little  though  the  dwelling  be  princely, 
and  the  furniture  rich,  and  the  worldly  com- 
fort such  as  wealth  alone  can  buy.  It  is 
another  Gadara  if  Jesus  be  not  there.  "  The 
curse  of  the  Lord  is  in  the  house  of  the 
wicked,"  says  the  word  of  God,  and  the  Chris- 
tian that  enters  it,  feels  a  cold  chill,  as  of  the 
second  death.     It  is  a  dwelling  in  which  there 

30 


352    THE  PRAYER  OF  THE  GADARENES. 

is  no  God.  Its  inmates,  like  the  Gadarenes, 
fancy  themselves  happy,  though  in  truth, 
their  happiness  is  the  prodigal's  curse — feeding 
swine,  and  not  "coming  to  themselves ;"  spend- 
ing their  thoughts  and  cares  for  that  which  is 
not  bread,  and  their  labor  for  that  which  satis- 
fieth  not.  But  see  how  really  gloomy  and 
desolate  is  their  home.  It  is  enough  that  the 
curse  of  God  is  there  :  enough  that  "  the  wrath 
of  God  abideth  on  them."  As  in  Gadara — 
Jesus  has  often  stood  at  the  door  and  knocked, 
but  He  has  been  "driven  from  their  coasts," 
and  now  there  is  no  Saviour  sanctifying  their 
joys,  and  consoling  their  griefs.  His  name  is 
not  invoked  by  them  in  the  changing  scenes 
of  life.  He  is  not  with  them  at  the  board,  or 
beside  the  bed  of  languishing;  nor  does  His 
angel  encamp  around  that  dwelling  to  de- 
liver them.  Where  is  that  hallowed  love  be- 
tween brothers  and  sisters,  between  husband 
and  wife,  which  makes  home  a  heaven,  and 
prepares  its  inmates  for  the  pangs  of  separa- 
tion, and  the  sure  sorrows  of  advancing  days  ? 
Where,  above  all,  is  the  daily  view  of  worlds 
beyond  the  grave ;  the  assuring  hope  of  hea- 
ven, and  of  reunion  there  with  all  that  have 
been  loved,  yet  rent  away ;  where  is  the  blest 
repose  that  follows  evening  prayer;  where  the 


THE  PRATER  OF  THE  GADARENES.    35S 

happy  rising  that  is  immediately  followed  by 
the  bended  knee,  and  the  sunshine  of  answered 
petitions  all  day  long  ?  Ah !  how  happy  the 
family  might  have  been :  Jesus  w^as  ready  to 
bless  them — even  at  the  outset  of  life  :  but 
"the  curse  of  the  Lord"  is  in  their  dwelling 
now ;  because  they  practically  beseech  Him  to 
depart  out  of  their  coasts. 

And  every  heart  is  like  Gadara  which  has 
refused  to  let  Jesus  in,  when  He  has  tenderly 
approached,  and  offered  all  His  love,  and  th6 
infinite  benediction  of  His  peace.  Think  of  a 
soul  that  might  have  been  brightened  by  "  the 
peace  of  God  which  passeth  all  understand- 
ing ;"  by  unshaken  trust,  and  confiding  love ; 
by  a  certain  faith,  and  a  holy  hope  ;  by  such 
a  preparation  for  life  and  all  its  cares ;  by 
such  an  experience  of  the  power  of  Jesus 
within,  to  subdue  and  drive  away  the  instiga- 
tions of  Satan ;  to  calm  the  tempest  of  the 
Spirit;  to  say,  in  many  a  storm,  pea^e  he  still. 
Think  of  such  a  soul,  self-despoiled  of  such 
blessings,  and  going  aimless  and  shiftless 
through  the  world,  no  anchor  here,  no  sure 
haven  hereafter.  Yet  hearts  there  are  that 
have  deliberately  besought  the  holy  Jesus 
"  that  he  would  depart  out  of  their  coasts  !" 
Few,  perhaps,  are  the  hearts  which  He  has  not 


354    THE  PRATER  OF  THE  GADARENES. 

visited,  at  times,  with  offers  of  His  mercy. 
Few  are  the  consciences  that  have  ffelt  no  com- 
punctious knockings  at  the  door;  few  are  the 
souls,  that  if  Jesus  dwell  not  there,  have  not 
been  guilty  of  driving  Him  away,  and  choosing 
worldly  objects  rather,  and  devoting  them- 
selves to  some  worldly  gain.  But,  oh !  the 
desolateness  of  the  soul — that  for  the  sake  of 
anything  which  this  world  can  give,  has 
doomed  itself  to  the  darkness  of  being  given 
up  of  God  to  the  power  of  the  devil. 

So  we  see  that  although  Jesus  walks  no 
more  among  us  in  the  flesh,  we  yet  may  imi- 
tate the  unhappy  Gadarenes,  and  commit  the 
same  awful  sin,  and  irremediable  mistake.  Let 
me  notice,  therefore,  the  danger,  and  whence 
it  arises ;  and  briefly  warn  you,  my  brethren, 
against  ensuring  yourselves  a  misery  that  lasts 
in  two  worlds,  and  deepens  through  Eternity  1 

The  human  heart  is  capable  of  being  su- 
premely devoted  to  almost  anything.  With 
the  Gadarenes — worldly  gain  could  make  the 
keeping  of  swine  a  lovely  work,  and  the  enter- 
taining of  the  Saviour,  a  thing  to  be  avoided, 
and  repelled.  But  anything  less  than  the  love 
of  God,  and  the  hope  of  heaven — is  sordid  in 
the  estimation  of  God  :  and  a  heart  fixed  on 
anything  less,  is  debased  and  deadened  in  His 


THE  PRAYER  OF  THE  GADARENES.    355 

sight  The  danger  rises  then,  from  this  cha- 
racter of  the  heart,  its  proneness  to  love  every- 
thing better  than  Christ;  its  ability  to  choose 
anything  instead  of  Him,  and  to  settle  down  in 
contented  exile  from  His  presence.  While 
then  few,  to  whom  I  speak,  w^ould  believe 
themselves  capable  of  consciously  repelling  and 
driving  away  their  Saviour,  let  all  feel  the 
danger  of  doing  it  more  subtilely,  that  is  indi- 
rectly but  not  less  fatally,  by  setting  the  heart 
on  something  less  than  Him,  His  service.  His 
rewards.  His  heaven.  Satan  cares  not  how  it 
is  done,  if  he  can  only  tempt  us  to  drive  Jesus 
from  the  coasts.  Nay — he  is  a  profound 
tactician,  and  he  loves  to  take  possession  of 
the  soul,  without  alarming  it;  and  w^ould 
prefer  to  occupy  it  with  the  enemy,  without 
startling  it,  or  letting  it  know  the  nature  of 
the  transaction,  till  accomplished  and  settled. 
Depend  upon  it,  Satan  means  to  have  your 
heart ;  and  he  will  occupy  it,  if  possible,  with 
some  worldly  thing.  It  may  be  distinction  ; 
it  may  be  wealth ;  it  may  be  some  other  idol, 
but  he  will  occupy  it,  with  something  to  ex- 
clude the  love  of  Jesus;  with  anything  that 
will  drive  Him  away.  Some  men  surrender 
their  souls  to  his  stratagems  at  a  very  cheap 
rate  :  and  others  he  buys  with  a  larger  price, 

30* 


356    THE  PRAYER  OF  THE  GADARENES. 

the  kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the  glory  of 
them,  but  "  what  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he 
gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose  his  own  soul !" 

As  then  the  danger  rises  from  the  proneness 
of  the  heart  to  ^x  its  affections  on  something 
worldly — the  only  safety  is,  in  setting  its 
affections,  early,  earnestly,  undividedly  on 
Christ.  The  Gergesenes  had  doubtless  heard 
of  Jesus,  before  He  presented  Himself  among 
them  :  and  if,  from  the  first,  they  had  loved 
the  story  of  His  mighty  works,  and  given  them- 
selves time  to  hear  of  His  deeds  of  mercy — 
they  could  not,  as  they  did,  "  have  besought 
Him  to  depart."  The  first  thing,  then,  is  to 
wait  upon  the  Lord,  and  acquaint  ourselves 
with  God.  Let  the  Saviour  of  the  soul  be 
first  of  all  sought  and  longed  for  by  the  soul — 
and  His  coming  will  not  be  unwelcome;  He 
will  not  be  driven  away  when  He  stands  at 
the  door  and  knocks. 

If  life  were  longer,  brethren,  and  more  certain 
than  it  is — even  then  there  would  be  great 
need  of  an  ever-present  help  in  time  of  trouble, 
for  the  longer  men  live  the  more  are  they 
called  to  mourn  its  vanity  and  vexation  of 
spirit.  In  youth,  and  while  the  evil  days 
come  not,  there  is  something  at  least  to  dis- 
guise the  dreary  Gadara,  where  Jesus  has  been 


THE  PRAYER  OF  THE  GADARENES.    357 

driven  away :  but  in  years,  in  poverty,  in 
bereavement,  in  sickness,  in  death — how  does 
that  cold  and  desolate  region  show  itself  in  all 
its  hatefulness.  And  how  often  life  is  termi- 
nated before  the  cheat  is  discovered !  How 
often  as  soon  as  Jesus  is  grieved  away,  and 
the  world  deliberately  chosen.  Death  appears 
with  his  claim,  and  Satan  with  his !  How 
often  they  who  would  live  here,  feeding  their 
swine,  are  forced  away,  by  the  hard  master 
whom  they  have  chosen,  and  paid  the  wages 
of  death  eternal !  The  Scriptures  do  not  inform 
us  as  to  the  remaining  history  of  the  unhappy 
Gadarenes ;  but  we  know,  that  one  in  this 
way,  and  another  in  that,  they  were  soon 
called  to  die,  and  that  they  must  give  an  ac- 
count in  the  day  of  judgment,  for  mercy 
proffered  and  for  mercy  despised.  Think  of 
the  moment  when  they  shall  seek  to  enter  the 
coasts  of  heaven,  and  think  of  the  answer 
which  Christ  will  give  them,  the  echo  of  their 
own  words  to  him — "  Depart." 

But  I  cannot  conclude  without  reminding 
you  of  the  fearful  realities  which  seem  to  be 
hinted  at,  in  the  narrative  of  the  evil  spirits, 
and  the  contentedness  with  which  the  Gada- 
renes chose  to  remain  under  the  power  of 
Satan,  rather  than  be  delivered  from  it,  at  the 


358    THE  PRAYER  OF  THE  GADARENES. 

expense  of  their  property.  One  would  say 
that  the  discovery  they  had  made  of  their 
liability  to  suffer  from  the  personal  assaults  of 
Satan  and  his  angels,  would  have  alarmed 
them  beyond  measure,  and  that  the  one  desire 
of  their  hearts  would  have  been,  to  be  forever 
secured  against  the  invasions  of  such  mighty 
and  malicious  agents,  by  the  mightier  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  But  no.  The  supreme 
love  of  gain,  is  the  supreme  love  of  the  devil. 
The  soul  of  the  covetous  man  is  tied  and  bound 
by  his  covetousness,  to  the  bondage  of  Satan ; 
and  this  bondage  is  no  figure  of  speech,  but  a 
reality,  to  which  it  is  all  important,  if  possible, 
that  the  slave  should  awake.  When  will  men 
understand  that  the  enemy  whom  they  re- 
nounce at  baptism,  is  no  shadow,  but  a  real 
person,  and  the  master  of  many  inferior  spirits, 
who  are  ever  employed  in  deceiving  and  de- 
stroying souls :  that  to  renounce  him  in  words, 
is  not  enough,  and  that  he  is  resolved,  if 
possible,  that  no  soul  shall  renounce  him  in 
deed  ;  and  that,  accordingly,  it  costs  a  struggle, 
and  a  great  one,  to  escape  from  his  power, 
effectually?  Such  is  the  assurance  of  many 
Scriptures,  and  our  only  hope,  in  view  of  the 
dangers  which  beset  us,  resides  in  the  fact 
that  our  Redeemer  is  mightier  than  our  enemy, 


THE  PRAYER  OF  THE  GADARENES.    359 

and  that  the  Spirit  of  God,  dwelling  within  us, 
is  an  effectual  safeguard  against  the  spirit  of 
evil.  I  fear  there  is  little  spiritual  life,  where 
there  is  not  a  daily  consciousness,  and  perse- 
vering effort,  to  keep  off  the  assaults  of  the 
devil,  and  to  quench  his  fiery  darts.  Many 
seem  to  think  that  if  they  have  gained  one 
victory  over  him,  he  retires  forever;  and  hence 
after  one  season  of  repentance  and  of  tears, 
they  give  themselves  over  to  an  easy  life,  im- 
agining that  the  work  is  done.  But  Christ  tells 
us  that  when  "  the  unclean  spirit  is  gone  out 
of  a  man,"  he  retires  only  for  a  time,  and  is 
sure  to  return  with  seven  other  spirits,  worse 
than  the  first.  How  then?  "They  enter  in, 
and  dwell  there,  and  the  last  state  of  that  man 
is  worse  than  the  first."  So,  Christ  accounts 
for  many  a  fall  from  grace,  and  for  final  ruin, 
aft^r  a  fair  beginning.  The  soul  of  Magdalen 
was  a  Gadara,  from  which  Jesus  was  not 
driven  away,  and  accordingly  he  cast  out  those 
seven  devils,  and  the  seven  spirits  of  God  en- 
tered in,  and  dwelt  there ;  and  so  the  soul  of 
Magdalen  was  saved.  All  this  is  true  history, 
written  for  our  instruction  and  warning;  and 
who  knows  but  the  seven-fold  power  of  Satan  is 
enthroned  in  his  own  soul,  if  he  is  not  conscious 
of  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  of  the 


360    THE  PRAYER  OF  THE  GADARENES.  | 

love  of  Jesus,  shed  abroad  in  his  heart  ?     Be-  ij 

lieve  it,  then,  if  Jesus  stands  at  the  door  of  j 

your  heart  and  knocks,  you  must  receive  Him  j 

for  a  guest,  or  before  you  know  it,  you  will  be  \ 

entertaining   another;    one   w^ho    "desires    to  i 

have  you,"  and  who  will  not  easily  give  you  1 

up,  or  let  you  go.     Oh !  how  happy  is  he  in  i 

whose  heart  his  Redeemer  dwells,  excluding  ] 

all  inferior  possessors,  and  making  it  impossible  ; 

that  it  should  admit  His  enemy,  or  become  i 

like  Gadara,  when  Jesus  had  departed.    Abide  j 

with  us,  oh  Saviour,  leave  us  not ;  depart  not  i 

from  our  coasts,  and  bring  us  at  last  to  the  • 

coasts  of  the  heavenly  Canaan,  and  to  the  joy  I 

of  thy  presence  in  thy  glorious  kingdom.  i 


SERMON  XVIIT. 


THE   TONGUE    IN    JUDGMENT. 


SIXTH    SUNDAY    AFTER    THE    EPIPHANY. 


BT  thy  W0RD8  THOU  SHALT  BE  JUSTIFIED,  AND  BY  THT  WORDS  THOTT 
SHALT  BE  CONDEMNED. — Matt.  XU.  37. 


The  close  observer  of  our  Sunday  services 
cannot  but  have  remarked  the  method  which 
characterizes  the  Gospels  for  each  day,  in  their 
succession,  during  the  Epiphany  season.  Be- 
ginning with  the  Holy  Babe,  and  the  Star  of 
Bethlehem,  as  His  first  manifestation ;  the  next 
is  presented  in  the  Holy  Child,  as  He  reveals 
to  the  Doctors  in  the  Temple  His  supernatural 
wisdom  and  knowledge.  Then  follows  His 
primary  manifestation  of  His  divine  power  and 
glory  in  the  beginning  of  miracles  at  Cana,  in 
Galilee ;  and  this  is  followed  by  another  dis- 
play of  His  mercy,  in  that  great  miracle 
wrought  in  behalf  of  a  Gentile,  the  Roman 

(361) 


362      THE  TONGUE  IN  JUDGMENT. 

Centurion,  with  which  our  Saviour  connects 
His  promise  of  a  vast  ingathering  of  the  Gen- 
tile world.  On  the  Fourth  Sunday  we  are  re- 
minded of  the  fact  that  He  was  manifested 
even  to  the  Satanic  powers,  as  the  promised  seed, 
who  had  come  to  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil, 
and  to  bruise  his  head.  The  Fifth  Sunday  ex- 
hibits the  retaliation  of  Satan,  in  sowing  tares 
in  the  field  of  Christ's  husbandry,  and  our 
Lord's  prolonged  patience  in  overcoming  the 
mischief  thus  done  to  his  kingdom.  Finally,  the 
Sixth  Sundaj^  brings  us  to  the  very  different 
manifestation  of  Christ,  which  is  yet  future,  and 
reserved  for  the  last  day.  The  same  Jesus, 
whom  we  beheld  in  the  manger,  is  exhibited 
in  the  clouds  of  heaven,  upon  the  great  white 
throne.  A  series  of  festive  commemorations 
is  thus  completed,  and  he  who  has  duly  ob- 
served them,  has  learned  something  of  the 
Apostle's  meaning  when  he  speaks  of  the 
"  Mystery  of  godliness,"  and  says,  "  God  was 
manifest  in  the  flesh;  justified  in  the  Spirit; 
seen  of  angels ;  believed  on  in  the  world ;  re- 
ceived up  into  glory." 

But  in  returning  to  the  subject  of  Judg- 
ment, which  has,  so  lately,  occupied  your  at- 
tention, I  am  aware  that  it  is  advisable  to  pre- 
sent it  in  a  point  of  view  somewhat  different 


THE  TONGUE  IN  JUDGMENT.       363 

from  that  which  has  already  been  surveyed. 
Nor  is  this  a  difficult  task,  considering  the 
variety  of  subjects  which  necessarily  connect 
themselves  with  that  of  the  end  of  all  things. 
But  in  consideration  of  that  review  which  we 
have  just  made  of  the  mercies  of  Christ,  and 
of  the  impressions  we  must  have  gathered  of 
His  meekness,  long-suffering,  and  pity,  the 
question  may,  very  naturally,  arise  whether  it 
be  possible  that  this  same  lowly  Jesus  is  yet 
to  ascend  a  throne  of  judgment,  and  to  visit 
indignation  and  wrath,  tribulation  and  anguish, 
upon  every  soul  of  man  that  doeth  evil.  The 
text  asserts  even  more  than  this;  that  not 
only  the  works,  but  even  the  words  of  men  are 
to  be  thus  weighed,  and  rewarded :  that  Christ 
shall  bring  into  judgment,  even  these  expo- 
nents of  our  secret  thoughts ;  and  that,  mild 
and  merciful  as  is  the  Lamb  of  God,  it  will 
indeed  be  a  day  of  wrath  when  He  reveals 
Himself  as  the  Lion  of  the  tribe  of  Judah. 

And  if  we  examine  the  connections  of  the 
text,  I  think  it  will  be  apparent  that  such  a 
judgment  is  necessary;  that  long-suffering  re- 
quires this  complement  and  counterpart;  and 
that  some  men  are  so  bad  that  their  salvation 
is  imix)ssible.  When  I  see  this  glorious  Jesus 
going  about  from  city  to  city,  healing  the  poo 

31 


364       THE  TONGUE  IN  JUDGMENT. 

pie's  sicknesses,  bearing  their  infirmities,  rejoic- 
ing with  them  that  do  rejoice,  and  weeping 
with  them  that  weep,  I  am  sure  that  His  com- 
passions fail  not,  and  that  He  will  save,  unto 
the  uttermost,  all  that  come  unto  Him  by 
faith.  But  when,  in  the  context,  I  see  the  re- 
cord of  man's  conflict  with  mercy ;  his  impious 
malice,  waxing  worse  and  worse  as  mercy 
shows  itself  more  and  more  inexhaustible ; 
then  I  understand  what  the  Psalmist  says, 
"  there  is  mercy  with  Thee :  therefore  shalt 
Thou  be  feared."  For,  oh !  when  the  wicked- 
ness of  man  is  such  that  mercy  itself  is  made 
an  occasion  of  blasphemy,  and  when  the  God 
of  love  is  obliged  to  pause  in  the  midst  of 
His  benevolent  miracles,  to  administer  such 
rebukes  to  impiety  as  God  alone  can  give, 
who  can  doubt  that  such  impiety  is  to  be 
judged  at  last,  and  that  the  same  God  will 
then  reveal  Himself  as  a  "consuming  fire?" 

The  blessed  Saviour  had  just  wrought  a 
gracious  and  wonderful  work.  One  had  come 
to  Him  oppressed  of  the  devil,  and  had  been 
released.  Eyes  that  were  blind  before,  be- 
neath His  creative  finger,  had  opened  to  the 
(Jay :  and  lips  that  had  been  dumb,  had  broken 
forth  in  words  of  rapture  and  of  praise.  "  The 
blind  and  dumb  both   spake  and  saw."     The 


THE  TONGUE  IN  JUDGMENT.       365 

simple  people  remembered  the  words  of  Isaiah, 
"  then  the  eyes  of  the  blind  shall  be  opened, 
and  the  ears  of  the  deaf  shall  be  unstopped,  and 
the  tongue  of  the  dumb  shall  sing."  What 
wonder  then  that  they  said,  "  Is  not  this  the 
Son  of  David?"  Who  could  forbid  them? 
Alas !  there  were  some  standing  by,  in  the  garb 
of  the  grave  and  reverend  rulers  of  the  Jews, 
whose  whole  heart  was  moved  within  them 
with  jealousy  and  rage,  by  such  demonstra- 
tions of  popular  sentiment.  They  answered 
the  suggestion  that  He  was  the  Son  of  David, 
by  a  contemptuous  implication  that  He  was 
nobody,  and  profanely  suggested  that  His  mer- 
ciful work  was  wrought  by  the  aid  of  Satan. 
"This  fellow  doth  not  cast  out  devils,  but 
by  Beelzebub,  the  prince  of  devils."  Now,  it 
seems  to  me,  that  a  more  fiendish  iniquity 
than  this  is  scarcely  recorded  on  the  pages  of 
inspiration  :  such  cool  and  consummate  malice  ! 
In  the  very  face  of  a  demonstration  of  Almighty 
power,  such  a  contempt  of  the  Most  High ! 
"Consider  Him  that  endured  such  contradic- 
tion of  sinners  against  Himself."  Was  it  a  just 
man  against  whom  they  thus  railed  ?  If  so, 
it  was  an  affront  outrageous  to  be  borne.  Was 
it  an  angel,  whom  they  thus  rewarded  for 
Btooping  to  soothe  a  mortal's  sorrows?     How 


366      THE  TONGUE  IN  JUDGMENT. 

fearful  the  suggestion  that  such  a  minister 
of  love  was  an  emissary  of  Satan  !  But  no ! 
These  are  but  poor  advances  towards  the  true 
representation  of  the  case.  He  that  endured 
such  contradiction  of  sinners,  was  the  Lord  of 
Light  and  Glory ;  it  was  God,  Himself,  stoop- 
ing from  the  throne  that  dazzles  the  seraphim, 
to  consort  with  sinful  men ;  it  was  such  a  God, 
in  the  very  moment  of  the  exercise  of  his 
compassions,  in  a  work  which  heaven  stooped 
down  to  behold,  against  whom  these  men  shot 
out  their  lips,  and  moved  their  impious  tongues. 
They  called  their  God  a  sorcerer  5  they  pro- 
nounced him  in  league  with  the  prince  of 
devils.  And  do  you  suppose  the  thorns  and 
nails  of  the  crucifixion  gave  him  more  lively 
torture  than  these  bitter  words?  And  shall 
this  wrong  be  never  righted  and  avenged? 

It  was  at  these  words,  that  he  who  "came 
not  to  destroy  men's  lives,  but  to  save  them," 
was  moved  to  holy  indignation,  and  changed 
His  meek  demeanour  for  a  surpassing  majesty. 
In  a  moment,  He  seemed  to  ascend  His  judg- 
ment seat,  and  to  enfold  Himself  in  those 
robes  of  authority  and  justice,  which  shall 
array  the  Son  of  Man,  in  the  day  when  only 
His  pierced  side  shall  be  bare,  to  remind  the 
world  of  what  was  done  to  Him  by  men.    Oh ! 


THE  TONGUE  IN  JUDGMENT.       367 

terrible  foretaste  of  the  last  sentence,  the 
words  in  which  He  then  denounced  their  sin. 
He  assured  them  a  greater  than  Solomon  was 
before  them;  He  informed  them  that  there  is 
a  sin  which  is  never  forgiven ;  He  exposed  the 
venom  of  their  hearts,  and  the  poison  of  asps 
that  was  under  their  lips;  He  hinted  the 
solemn  responsibility  of  man  for  the  gift  of 
speech;  He  described  to  them  the  horrible 
state  of  a  man  given  up  to  Satan  and  his 
angels;  and  while  He  declared  that  the  men 
of  Nineveh  should  condemn  them,  and  called 
them  a  generation  of  vipers,  he  added — "  Even 
so,  shall  it  be  also  unto  this  wicked  genera- 
tion." Their  last  state  shall  be  worse  than 
the  first,  and  they  who  have  ascribed  my 
works  to  the  devil,  shall,  themselves,  be  given 
over  to  his  sevenfold  power. 

But  as  words  gave  occasion  to  this  remark- 
able sermon,  and  awful  rebuke,  it  is  to  be  ob- 
served that  the  text,  which  is  part  of  both,  is 
a  most  striking  proof  of  a  man's  accountability 
for  the  use  of  his  tongue.  It  is  a  commentary, 
too,  on  another  scripture,  and  shows  with  what 
strictness  God  will  bring  "every  work  into 
judgment,  with  every  secret  thing."  Men, 
indeed  are  disposed  to  distinguish  between 
words  and  works ;  but  Scripture  shows  us  that 
31* 


368       THE  TONGUE  IN  JUDGMENT. 

God  Himself  acts  on  the  principle,  which  a 
man  of  the  world  has  reduced  to  a  maxim  of 
human  wisdom,  that  "  words  are  things."  And 
so  they  are  things.  Dreadful  things;  "hot, 
burning  coals ;"  yea,  "  firebrands,  arrows  and 
death."  No  marvel  that  God  has  made  a  law 
against  their  inconsiderate  use.  For,  as  the 
tongue  is  the  glory  of  our  frame :  as,  next  to 
the  power  of  thought,  'tis  the  most  excellent 
gift  of  our  Creator ;  as  by  this,  we  are  ennobled 
above  brutes,  and  associated  with  angels  that 
excel  in  strength,  and  are  even  permitted  to 
draw  near  to  the  Most  High ;  so,  it  is  but 
reason,  that  the  giver  of  such  a  consummate 
faculty,  should  count  its  abuse  an  iniquity 
too  heavy  to  be  borne.  For  what  is  the  abuse 
of  speech,  but  the  stealing  of  a  harp  from  the 
choirs  of  heaven,  to  glorify  the  devil,  and  de- 
basing, to  the  service  of  hell,  an  instrument 
which  God  has  contrive-d  to  make  the  harmony 
of  paradise  on  earth  ?  The  sin  of  Moses,  who 
"  spake  unadvisedly  with  his  lips,"  after  a  life 
of  singular  moderation  and  meekness,  was 
severely  punished,  as  if  on  purpose  to  teach  us, 
that  in  proportion  to  their  position  and  influ- 
ence in  society,  God  will  hold  men  strictly 
accountable  for  the  use  of  speech.  And  I  have 
often  thought  that  this  miracle  of  a  faculty,  is 


TKE  TONGUE  IN  JUDGMENT.       369 

somehow,  in  its  own  nature,  sacred  to  God,  and 
that  such  is  the  meaning  of  the  proverb,  "  the 
preparation  of  the  heart  in  man,  and  the  an- 
swer of  the  tongue  is  from  Jehovah."  Thought 
and  speech  are  faculties  which  we  cannot  use, 
without  as  it  were,  invoking  the  Lord.  Hence 
bad  thoughts  and  bad  w^ords  are  intensely 
Qvil  deeds.  No  marvel  therefore  that  a  rabble 
of  children,  or  young  lads,  were  on  one  occasion, 
so  signally  visited  of  God,  for  blasphemies 
which  were  ingeniously  wicked.  Elijah  had 
just  gone  up,  in  a  chariot  of  fire  to  heaven. 
What  must  have  been  the  depravity  of  the 
children,  if  not  of  their  parents  also,  who  pur- 
sued the  prophet,  that  had  received  Elijah's 
falling  mantle,  with  outcries,  importing  their 
contempt  for  him,  and  for  his  God,  and  ex- 
pressive of  their  desire  that  he  might  also  be 
taken  from  the  earth !  "  Go  up,  thou  bald- 
head,"  they  shouted  after  the  venerable  Elisha; 
that  is,  begone!  away  with  thyself!  go  after 
Elijah";  go  up  to  God,  and  let  us  serve  Baal ! 
What  marvel  that  God  sent  against  them  the 
bears  of  the  wood  ?  What  cursing  and  bitter- 
ness in  their  young  hearts ;  what  arrows  they 
shot  from  their  tongues! 

True,  men  distinguish  between  words   and 
thoughts,  and    say   'tioaa   but  a  word.     They 


370      THE  TONGUE  IN  JUDGMENT. 

cursGj  and  take  God's  name  in  vain,  and  say 
it   was   not  meant ;   it   was   uttered   without 
thought.     But,   "  the  heart  is  deceitful  above 
all  things/'  as  well  as  "  desperately  wicked." 
Men  do  not  know  their  hearts,  but  God  does; 
and  He  to  whom  all  hearts  are  naked  and  open, 
in  reproving  the  blasphemy  to  which  I  have 
referred,  introduced  the  text,  by  the  awful  re- 
proof— "  Oh  generation  of  vipers,  how  can  ye, 
being  evil,  speak  good  things  ?     For  out  of  the 
abundance  of  the  heart,  the  mouth  speaketh." 
Such  is  God's  testimony  as  to  the  heart  of  a 
foul-mouthed  man.     It  shows  us  where  words 
come  from ;  not  so  much  from  the  tongue,  as 
from  the  heart :  and  thus  we  may  account  for 
the  importance  given  to  words  in  the  text,  as 
being  facts,  and  proofs  of  character.     And  we 
must  observe  that  the  rule  works  in  two  ways. 
By  words  men  are  to  be  juistified,  as  well  as 
condemned:  and  the  Master  goes  on   to  say, 
"  a  good  man,  out  of  the  good  treasure  of  his 
heart  bringeth  forth  good  things,  and  an  evil 
man,  out  of  the  evil  treasure,  bringeth  forth 
evil  things."     Not  that  good  words  to  the  ear, 
may  not  proceed  from  a  bad  heart,  but  that 
God,  who  judges  not  by  the  hearing  of  the  ear, 
but  by  His   knowledge   of  what   is   in  man, 


THE   FONGUE   IN  JUDGMENT.  371 

knows  such  words  to  be  evil  things,  forasmuch 
as  they  are  words  of  hypocrisy. 

So,  then,  it  is  a  law  of  the  kingdom,  that 
words  in  the  mouth  of  reasonable  men,  are 
realities.  They  are  the  signs  of  something 
good  or  bad,  which  really  exists.  They  come 
from  the  abundance  of  the  heart,  and  always 
mean  something.  They  manifest  folly  and 
sinful  thoughtlessness,  if  nothing  else;  but, 
often  they  are  the  symptoms  of  envy,  and  hate, 
and  malice ;  or  of  deep  and  latent  elements  of 
evil,  which  otherwise  might  not  have  been 
suspected,  even  by  the  rash  speaker  himself. 
Then  again,  words  sometimes,  unintentionally 
betray  a  pure  heart,  and  its  innocent  and  art- 
less thoughts.  So  that  w^e  need  not  be  surprised 
to  find  Him  wdio  "searcheth  the  heart  and 
trieth  the  reins,"  going  on  as  follows  :  "  But  I 
say  unto  you,  that  every  idle  word  that  men 
shall  speak,  they  shall  give  an  account  thereof, 
in  the  day  of  judgment."  Oh,  severe  and 
dreadful  day,  if  this  be  true!  For  though  I 
incline  to  believe  that  the  word  here  rendered 
idle^  might  as  well  be  translated  evil,  yet  I  fear 
God  counts  idle  words,  as  evil  words,  and  will 
not  hold  it  an  excuse,  that  a  man  was  ac- 
customed to  speak  idly,  or  in  jest.  "  In  the 
multitude  of  words  there  wantcth  not  sin,"  says 


372      THE  TONGUE  IN  JUDGMENT. 

the  proverb,  "but  he  that  refraineth  his  lips, 
is  wise."  We  have  no  right  to  let  our  tongue 
run  riot,  and  if  we  have  spoken  at  random,  it 
becomes  us  to  repent  of  it,  as  of  other  sins.  It 
is  most  observable  that  the  Apostles  dwell  ear- 
nestly on  this  principle,  and  recur  to  it,  over  and 
over  again.  What  merry-maker  but  must  feel 
humbled  when  he  reads  the  injunction  of  one, 
whose  character  was  eminently  social,  who  was 
naturally  of  a  keen  wit,  and  who  was  well-read 
in  the  heathen  poets  and  historians,  as  well  as 
in  sacred  literature,  who,  nevertheless,  says, 
"  let  no  corrupt  communication  proceed  out  of 
your  mouth  .  .  .  neither  filthiness  nor  foolish 
talking,  nor  jesting,  which  are  not  convenient, 
but  rather  giving  of  thanks?"  So,  too,  in 
another  place,  "Let  your  speech  be  always 
w^ith  grace,  seasoned  with  salt."  Such  are  St. 
Paul's  practical  expositions  of  the  text :  and 
if  one  will  compare  them  with  the  still  more 
forcible  language  of  St.  James  concerning  the 
tongue,  I  am  sure  he  will  not  accuse  me  of  in- 
vesting the  subject  with  an  importance  which 
it  does  not  possess.  Let  us  reflect  that  He 
who  gives  us  these  laws,  is  the  Creator  of  the 
tongue,  and  that  He  uttered  the  text,  in  close 
connection  with  a  miraculous  gift  of  utterance 
to  one  who  had  been  dumb.     Surely  He  has  a 


THE  TONGUE  IN  JUDGMENT.       373 

right  to  give  us  laws  as  to  the  use  of  such  a 
faculty  :  and  when  He  warns  us  by  the  Apostle 
that  "  no  man  can  tame  it,"  and  teaches  us  to 
pray  for  His  aid,  in  the  "  words  of  our  mouth," 
as  well  as  in  the  "  meditations  of  our  heart," 
we  should  be  grateful  as  w^ell  as  humble; 
recognizing  the  great  goodness  of  God,  in 
justifying,  as  well  as  condemning  by  this  rule, 
and  in  accepting  from  us,  as  an  oblation,  "  the 
fruit  of  our  lips,  even  praise  unto  God." 

Such  being  the  awful  responsibility  of  the 
creature  for  the  gift  of  speech,  let  us  further 
inquire  as  to  the  words  that  are  to  justify,  or 
to  condemn  him,  in  the  judgment.  Let  the 
text  be  understood.  It  simply  affirms  that 
words  are  to  be  reckoned  among  those  works, 
according  to  which  God  will  reward  every  man. 
It  is  not  hard,  then,  to  say  by  what  kind  of 
words  a  man  shall  be  justified.  They  must 
come  from  a  penitent  and  believing  heart,  and 
as  such  be  works  of  faith.  Thus,  "  a  good 
man  out  of  the  good  treasure  of  his  heart 
bringeth  forth  good  things."  Such  is  our  Lord's 
description  of  good  words :  words  that  grow 
like  herbage  from  seeds,  out  of  a  sanctified 
spirit.  Now  what  are  such  words  ?  Not  merely 
those  of  piety,  as  such  ;  not  merely  confessions 
of  faith,  and  the  language  of  prayer  and  praise, 


374       THE  TONUGE  IN  JUDGMENT. 

not  only  words  of  exhortation  and  encourage- 
ment to  others,  or  of  ejaculation  to  God,  or  holy 
meditation  with  one's  self:  but  further,  all 
words  by  which  the  tongue  is  not  abused,  de- 
graded, or  allowed  to  minister  to  evil;  all 
words  which  good  men  need  to  use  in  the  em- 
ployments and  enjoyments  of  daily  life ;  all 
words,  which,  like  the  songs  of  birds,  are  indi- 
rectly to  the  glory  of  God,  because  they  are  the 
natural  and  proper  fruit  of  faculties  He  has  given 
and  of  which  He  only  could  be  the  Creator. 
Hence  words  of  love  and  good-will ;  words  of 
chastened  mirth,  and  innocent  festivity ;  words 
of  reverent  surprise,  or  admiration ;  all  words 
well  weighed,  and  such  as  are  carefully  spoken, 
even  in  moments  of  excitement,  and  such  as 
are  the  result  of  self-discipline  and  well  formed 
habits  of  speech;  all  such  are  acceptable  to 
God.  On  this  latter  idea  let  me,  for  a  moment, 
dwell.  We  may  cultivate  our  language,  and 
offer  to  God  well-flavoured,  and  choice  words, 
as  the  fruit  of  our  lips,  differing  from  the  language 
of  the  natural  man,  as  much  as  the  fruit  of  the 
vineyard  differs  from  that  of  the  wilderness. 
I  speak  not,  now,  of  the  principles  on  which 
orators  and  poets  choose  their  words,  for  they 
only  labour  to  please  men's  ears ;  but  I  speak 
of  that  discipline  to  which  every  one   must 


THE  TONGUE  IN  JUDGMENT.      375 

subject  his  tongue,  who  desires  to  please  God. 
He  must  form  habits  of  pure  and  becoming 
speech ;  he  must  lay  up  words,  which  need 
not  do  injury,  if  they  are  called  for  inadvert- 
ently, or  in  moments  of  deep  and  sudden 
feeling ;  he  must  weed  out  from  his  vocabulary 
all  words  of  levity,  or  which  in  any  wise  savour 
of  what  is  profane ;  and  this  he  must  do,  re- 
membering that  close  rule  of  the  Master,  "  let 
your  communication  be  Yea,  yea.  Nay,  nay ; 
for  whatsoever  is  more  than  these  cometh  of  evil. ^* 
I  call  this  a  close  rule,  for  it  seems  to  set  a 
seal  upon  the  lips,  and  but  for  St.  James'  ex- 
position, I  fear  we  might  not  suspect  the  evil 
against  which  we  are  thus  guarded.  But  if 
the  tongue  is  "  a  fire,  a  world  of  iniquity ;" 
if  it  is  "  set  on  fire  of  hell,"  and  if  it  is  "  an 
unruly  evil,  full  of  dreadful  poison,"  I  think 
we  shall  not  err  in  regarding  the  warning  as 
dictated  against  the  Evil  One,  in  view  of  his 
special  readiness  to  defile  and  inflame  the 
tongue.  He  then  that  chastens  his  speech 
pleases  God,  and  overcomes  the  devil :  so  that 
we  are  sure  of  speaking  right,  when  we  speak 
in  the  fear  of  God.  Happy  is  he  whose  tongue 
is  habitually  attuned  to  words  of  prayer  and 
praise,  and  trust;  to  words  of  benevolence 
and  mercy;  to  whatsoever  is  lovely  and  of 
32 


376       THE  TONGUE  IN  JUDGMENT. 

good-report.  Such  words  are  as  "  apples  of  gold 
in  pictures  of  silver."  They  are  sweet  waters 
out  of  a  clear  fountain;  and  because  the  med- 
itations of  the  heart  must  first  be  purified,  in 
order  to  produce  them,  they  are  good  and  ac- 
ceptable in  His  sight,  who  is  our  Strength 
and  our  Redeemer. 

There  is  evidence  enough  in  Scripture,  that 
the  God  who  created  the  tongue  delights  in  its 
legitimate  use.  "The  words  of  the  pure  are 
pleasant  words,"  says  the  Psalmist,  and  again, 
"the  words  of  a  wise  man's  mouth  are 
gracious."  So  many  are  the  intimations  of  a 
similar  kind,  that  one  is  tempted  to  believe 
that  there  is  no  music  so  sweet  to  the  ear  of 
our  Heavenly  Father,  as  the  language  of  His 
children,  when  they  rejoice  in  Him,  or  when 
they  ask  favours  in  the  name  of  His  well-be- 
loved Son.  How  acceptable,  therefore,  must 
be  the  worship  of  His  Church,  when,  in  the 
great  congregation,  many  voices  are  lifted  up 
with  one  accord  in  the  confession  of  the  faith, 
or  in  swelling  the  strains  of  the  Te  Deum,  or 
responding  to  the  sufirages  of  the  Litany.  And 
in  the  days  when  Paul  was  preacher,  or  even 
when  Chrysostom  or  Ambrose  expounded  him 
— their  faces  shining  like  Stephen's,  and  their 
hearts  full  of  the  love  of  Christ — who  cannot 


THE   TONGUE   IN   JUDGMENT.  377 

imagine  that  angels  listened  with  rapture,  and 
said  exultingly  to  one  another,  "  a  word  spoken 
in  due  season  how  good  it  is !" 

On  the  other  hand,  if  we  enquire  as  to  the 
words  by  which  men  shall  be  condemned,  how 
plain  it  must  be,  by  rule  of  contrary,  that  all 
words  which  spring  from  unsanctified  affec- 
tions, and  unchastened  habits,  and  ungoverned 
thoughts,  and  roving  fancies,  and  inconsiderate 
mirth,  are  very  evil  things  !  "  The  words  of 
a  man*s  mouth,"  says  another  proverb,  "  are  as 
deep  waters."  Their  true  meaning  floats  not 
on  the  surface,  but  lies  deep  in  the  heart. 
Thus,  there  are  words  which,  in  themselves, 
are  good,  in  which,  nevertheless,  "there  want- 
eth  not  sin,"  if  the  heart  be  fathomed,  and  the 
deep  cave  from  which  they  issue  explored. 
Even  the  language  of  worship  may  be  mockery. 
There  is  such  a  thing  as  being  "  snared  with 
ihe  words  of  one's  mouth;"  and,  as  for  those 
who  bring  their  giddy  and  silly  airs  into  the 
house  of  God,  and  even  utter  their  prayers 
with  roving  eyes,  and  vacant  starings,  let  them 
know  how  God  abhors  the  worshipper  who 
"  honours  Him  with  his  lips,  while  his  heart  is 
far  from  Him."  Oh  how  profane  is  he  who  in 
the  holy  place,  and  on  the  holy  day,  can  trifle 
with    his    Maker,  by    indulging   in   such  idle 


378       THE  TONGUE  IN  JUDGMENT 

words  as  would  be  sinful  anywhere  and  at  any 
time.  The  true  worshipper  deplores  even  a 
wandering  thought;  but  such  infirmities  are 
inseparable  from  our  militant  state,  and  need 
not  discourage  the  Christian,  or  distress  him, 
except  when  he  knows  he  does  not  resist  them, 
or  that  he  "  gives  place  to  the  devil,"  by  enter- 
taining them.  That  "form  of  sound  words" 
in  which  we  worship  God,  and  which  so  many 
generations  of  the  faithful  have  used  before  us, 
is  studiously  framed,  with  reference  to  our 
mental  and  physical  nature ;  it  provides  against 
fatigue,  and  has  frequent  safeguards  against 
roving,  such  as  recall  attention,  or  fix  it  upon 
the  great  object  of  prayer.  Nor  can  I  suf- 
ciently  commend  the  decent  custom  which  pre- 
vails among  us,  of  silent  prayer  upon  entering 
the  church,  if  it  be,  indeed,  an  appeal  to  God, 
for  help  to  banish  all  thoughts  that  are  vain 
and  unworthy  of  the  place.  It  might  be  well, 
moreover,  to  compose  the  thoughts  by  a  repeti- 
tion to  one's  self,  of  that  injunction  of  the  in- 
spired preacher — "keep  thy  foot  when  thou 
goest  to  the  house  of  God,  and  be  more  ready 
to  hear  than  to  give  the  sacrifice  of  fools,  for 
they  consider  not  that  they  do  evil.  Be  not 
rash  with  thy  mouth,  and  let  not  thine  heart 
be  hasty  to  utter  anything  before  God  ;  for  God 


THE  TONGUE  IN  JUDGMENT.       379 

is  in  Heaven  and  thou  upon  earth,  therefore 
let  thy  words  be  few." 

Before  speaking  of  the  grosser  forms  of  sin- 
ning with  the  tongue,  I  must,  also,  add  a  cau- 
tion, against  the  abuse  of  speech,  in  the  sweet 
intercourse  of  society.  "A  fool's  voice  is 
known  by  multitude  of  words.  .  .  Suffer  not 
thy  mouth  to  cause  thy  flesh  to  sin."  Let  no 
one  answer,  that  if  so  it  is  not  safe  to  live ;  for 
who  knows  not  that  it  is  indeed  a  dangerous 
thing  to  live  with  no  fear  of  God  before  one's 
eyes  ?  It  was  a  source  of  comfort  to  the  Psalm- 
ist, that  he  could  say,  "  lo !  there  is  not  a  word 
in  my  tongue,  but  thou,  oh  Lord,  knowest  it 
altogether ;"  and  to  be  afraid  to  "  offend  with 
the  tongue,"  is  only  to  "take  heed  to  one's 
ways."  Of  such  salutary  fear  as  this  it  is 
written,  "  Happy  is  the  man  that  feareth  al- 
ways," for  'tis  a  fear  that  is  the  beginning  of 
wisdom,  and  hence  of  joy  and  peace.  How 
blessed  is  the  home,  where  this  wholesome  fear 
of  God  prevails,  and  where  a  cheerful  inter- 
course goes  on,  from  year  to  year,  among  its  in- 
mates, with  never  a  word  of  bitterness  and 
hate,  if  even  of  indifference  to  another's  feel- 
ings and  welfare  !  Alas !  how  wont  we  are  to 
speak  words  that  may  do  hurt,  and  to  excuse 
ourselves  by  saying  "  it  was  an  error,"  without 
32* 


380       THE  TONGUE  IN  JUDGMENT. 

amending  our  fault.  And  this  is  quite  too 
common  with  even  thoughtful  men,  to  in- 
dulge in  ejaculations,  and  expressions  of  the 
kind  which  "cometh  of  the  Evil  One"  What 
less  are  irreverent  utterances  of  those  words 
which  are  strictly  appropriate  to  sacred  things, 
or  those  less  pardonable  ones  which  ought  to 
be  dreadful  to  us  from  their  associations  with 
sin?  Fools  make  a  mock  at  sin,"  and  he  who 
can  even  sport  with  hell  and  the  devil,  is  a 
fool  indeed.  Any  approach  to  such  folly  must 
be  hateful  to  God,  and  pleasing  only  to  our 
great  enemy.  'Tis  the  homage  that  Satan  de- 
lights in.  And  let  us  not  fear  that  by  thus 
cleansing  our  tongue,  and  sweetening  the 
breath  of  our  daily  conversation,  we  shall  be- 
come demure  or  stupid.  Is  heaven  a  dull 
abode  ?  Is  the  speech  of  angels  less  enchanting 
than  the  rhetoric  of  ungodly  men  ?  Or  would 
you  question  the  elegance  and  refinement  of 
that  language  in  which  Daniel  bore  his  part  as 
a  courtier,  or  in  which  the  stainless  Joseph, 
long  before  him,  fulfilled  his  office  as  Pharaoh's 
premier?  What  mental  power  more  lively 
than  David's,  or  Solomon's !  Where  are  words 
more  pleasant  than  those  of  the  evangelists? 
more  tender  than  the  beloved  John's?  more 
sublime  than  the  fervent  Paul's  ?     And  is  the 


THE  TONGUE  IN  JUDGMENT.      381 

society  of  Christian  gentlemen  less  agreeable 
than  that  of  the  lewd  and  profane  ?  Is  the 
Christian  female  less  lovely  for  her  purity  of 
thought  and  speech  ?  Oh,  there  was  One  "  who 
spake  as  never  man  spake,"  and  whose  society 
was  always  the  fulness  of  joy ;  and  as  in  all 
His  w^orks,  He  taught  us  to  follow  His  steps,  so 
also  in  His  words  was  He  our  perfect  example. 
In  that  home,  at  Bethany,  w^here  Lazarus,  and 
Martha  and  Mary  were  his  delighted  listeners; 
or,  upon  the  Mount,  with  nations  hanging 
upon  His  lips;  how  did  He  teach  us  the  uses 
of  speech,  and  interpret  to  us  His  own  saying, 
"  a  good  man  out  of  the  good  treasures  of  his 
heart  bringeth  forth  good  things  !" 

I  have  no  time  to  enlarge  upon  those  forms 
of  evil-speaking  which  everybody  fears,  and 
which  no  one  pretends  to  justify.  How  often 
that  brood  of  vipers — slander,  misrepresenta- 
tion and  detraction — leave  their  slime  in  our 
accustomed  path,  or  dart  their  venom  at  our 
back!  How  it  infests  and  poisons  society! 
Who  has  not  smarted  from  its  wounds  ?  I  need 
not  strive  to  convince  you  that  the  words  of 
slanderers'  tongues  are  words  that  will  con- 
demn a  man  in  judgment.  But  there  are 
words  as  full  of  poison,  and  which  aim  at  the 
honour  of  God,  which   need   to  be  strongly 


382       THE  TONGUE  IN  JUDGMENT. 

rebuked,  because,  alas !  they  are  as  lightly  re- 
garded as  they  are  uttered.  At  all  times,  and 
in  all  places,  how  common  are  cursing  and 
swearing.  How  constantly  do  men  blaspheme 
that  worthy  name  by  which  Christians  are 
called !  As  an  ambassador  of  Christ,  I  cannot 
but  rebuke,  with  feeling,  and  with  indignation, 
the  outrage  which  is  so  frequently  renewed 
against  His  crown.  How  the  round  world 
rings  with  the  rhetoric  of  hell !  Where,  on 
earth,  can  one  escape  the  breath  of  cursing,  or 
find  a  place  where  its  clamour  will  not  invade 
his  ears  ?  You  hear  it  in  the  street ;  it  comes 
up  through  your  windows ;  it  disturbs  your 
rest.  In  business  and  in  pleasure,  men  swear; 
amid  the  dangers  of  travel,  and  of  the  voyage, 
they  swear;  in  the  enjoyments  of  blessings, 
they  swear ;  and  they  swear,  to  give  expres- 
sion to  their  sorrows.  Men  swear — ^yes,  and 
sometimes  women  swear.  In  the  hour  and 
agony  of  death,  I  have  heard  words,  from  female 
lips,  that  betrayed  the  horrid  secret  of  the 
habit  of  their  lives ;  and,  oh !  if  mothers 
swear,  what  wonder  that  "  the  cheek-distend- 
ing oath"  comes  from  the  mouths  of  unrazored 
boys,  and  from  children,  who  almost  stagger 
with  the  effort  of  its  utterance  ?  "  Because  of 
swearing  the  land  mourneth,  and  my  name, 


THE   TONGUE   IN  JUDGATENT.  883 

saith  the  Lord,  continually,  every  day,  is  blas- 
phemed." Oh !  if  I  speak  to  any  one  who  is 
conscious  of  such  iniquity,  and  who  knows 
that  hy  his  icords,  he  "  is  condemned  already," 
let  me  remind  him  that  "  God  will  not  hold 
him  guiltless  that  taketh  His  name  in  vain," 
and  that  his  account  is  already  so  black,  that 
nothing  but  tears  of  bitter  repentance,  and  the 
blood  of  Christ  besides,  can  possibly  wash  it 
out.  I  will  not  pause  to  argue  that  your  sin 
is  brutal  and  devilish,  as  well  as  deadly  to  the 
soul ;  you  dare  not  defend  it,  and  you  cannot 
excuse  it.  But,  I  will  appeal  to  you  by  one 
dread  reality,  which  comes  before  the  judg- 
ment. You  are  drawing  near  the  hour  when 
wicked  men  are  wont  to  speak  God's  name  in  a 
very  different  way  from  that  in  which  they 
use  it  when  they  think  they  have  long  to  live. 
Who,  that  is  not  wholly  dead  in  sin,  does  not 
expect,  in  his  last  hour,  to  call  upon  his  God? 
And  will  you  profane  that  holy  name,  while 
you  are  alive  and  well,  and  while  your  tongue 
is  a  well-tuned  instrument,  on  which  you 
will  be  sure  to  call  for  mercy,  in  the  horrid 
moment  when  its  cord  is  loosed,  and  your  voice 
is  tremulous,  and  your  breath  is  just  quiver- 
ing upon  your  lips?  Who  knows  how  he  shall 
die ;  or  out  of  what  depth  of  human  misery  ho 


384       THE  TONGUE  IN  JUDGMENT. 

may  cry  to  his  Maker,  in  his  last  pang  ?  Who 
knows  but  it  may  be  from  the  crashing  train, 
or  the  sinking  ship  ?  Even  if  it  be  in  your  bed, 
you  will  need  help  from  God.  Oh  !  keep  that 
holy  and  reverend  name  against  that  awful 
extremity  of  your  need ;  and  if  you  will  not 
learn  to  hallow  it  before,  at  least  profane  it 
not.  "  Swear  not  at  all,  neither  by  heaven, 
for  it  is  God's  throne,  neither  by  the  earth,  for 
it  is  His  footstool."  Swear  not  at  all ;  but  above 
all  things  take  not  that  name  in  vain,  which 
you  may  so  soon  invoke,  in  the  agony  of  your 
departing  soul.  Alas !  how  many  have  first 
begun  to  call  reverently  on  Christ,  in  that 
fatal  hour,  and  how  fearful  the  probability  that 
they  have  begun  too  late,  in  view  of  that 
solemn  promise,  "  I  also  will  laugh  at  your 
calamity ;  I  will  mock  when  your  fear  cometh." 
Finally,  when  we  reflect  how  strongly  our 
words  act  upon  others,  and  influence  them  for 
good  or  ill,  who  can  wonder  that  it  is  written, 
hy  thy  v)ords  thou  shalt  he  justified,  and  hy  thy 
wards  thou  shalt  he  condemned?  We  are  all 
wont  to  under-estimate  our  influence.  The 
humblest  individual  seldom  gives, himself  full 
credit  for  his  real  power  over  other  men.  Our 
words,  therefore,  are  elements  of  good  or  evil 
in  the  world  according  to  their  character,  and 


THE  TONGUE  IN  JUDGMENT.       385 

in  proportion  to  our  influence.  We  are  con- 
stantly corrupting,  or  else  benefiting  our  fellow- 
men.  And  if  such  be  the  operation  of  the 
tongue,  how  fearful  the  fact,  that  "  the  tongue 
can  no  man  tame."  The  heart,  we  know,  can 
only  be  renewed  by  grace  divine,  and  it  is  *^  out 
of  the  abundance  of  the  heart "  that  the  mouth 
speaketh.  He,  then,  who  alone  can  cleanse 
the  heart,  He  only  can  tame  the  tongue.  Oh, 
pray  the  Holy  Ghost  to  touch  your  lips,  as  with 
a  coal  from  the  altar,  and  to  purify  your 
heart  within  you.  Remember  that  your  words 
pass  not  into  the  air,  but  into  the  ear  of  God, 
and  that  they  are  written  in  His  book,  and  let 
this  thought  inspire  you  daily,  to  adopt  the 
Psalmist's  prayers,  "Set  a  watch,  oh  Lord, 
before  my  mouth,  and  keep  the  door  of  my 
lips ;"  and  "  Let  the  words  of  my  mouth  and 
the  meditations  of  my  heart,  be  always  j.  :- 
ceptable  in  thy  sight,  oh  Lord,  my  strength  a  d 
my  Redeemer !" 


END. 


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